Chemical Rules Adopted by EPA Against Scientific Advice

Chemical Rules Adopted by EPA Against Scientific Advice

On October 21, 2017, the New York Times reported that a political appointee in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s toxic chemical unit had pushed through rules against the advice of agency scientists. The appointee, who was formerly an executive at the American Chemical Council, called for revisions to more than a dozen rules aimed at tracking the health consequences of certain chemicals. An internal memo obtained by the New York Times indicated that top EPA scientists had warned that the revisions may result in an “underestimation of the [chemicals’] potential risks to human health and the environment.”