EPA cancer guidelines

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Below is an article on the recently released EPA Cancer guidelines.

These are the protocols EPA uses in its risk assessments, to determine

if a pesticide poses a cancer risk to adults or children.

WHITE HOUSE WEAKENS EPA CANCER SAFEGUARDS TO PROTECT CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

INSTEAD OF CHILDREN

WHITE HOUSE INSERTED LANGUAGE IN GUIDELINES MAKING IT EASIER FOR

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TO STYMIE EPA CHEMICAL REVIEWS

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 29, 2005)--The Environmental Protection Agency’s

new guidelines for assessing cancer risk from chemical pollutants will

give industry too many opportunities to stifle safeguards that protect

children, according to NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).

EPA’s guidelines acknowledge, for the first time, that children under 2

years of age are 10 times more likely to get cancer from certain

chemicals than adults who are similarly exposed. But the White House

Office of Management and Budget undermined that acknowledgment by

inserting language in the guidelines that make it easy for industry to

block EPA from following them when assessing cancer-causing chemicals.

" The White House decided it was more important to protect the chemical

industry than protect our kids from cancer, " said Dr. Sass, a

senior scientist with NRDC’s environmental health program.

The guidelines announced today, which dictate how EPA regulates

cancer-causing chemicals, finalize a draft policy issued by EPA in March

2003. That draft policy included supplemental guidelines for assessing

cancer risks to children.

The guidelines had to go through several rigorous scientific reviews

before they were released today.

EPA’s draft guidelines, including the children’s supplemental, first

passed through an internal agency review two years ago. The agency’s

Scientific Advisory Board reviewed the guidelines and agreed with EPA’s

conclusion that early-life exposures to chemical pollutants increase

cancer risk. The board recommended finalizing EPA’s draft guidelines as

written.

The guidelines then went to the White House Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) for scrutiny, where they languished until today. Out of

public view, OMB substantially weakened the guidelines by adding

language that will allow the chemical industry to contest policy

decisions more easily, according to NRDC. Specifically, OMB inserted

language allowing for " expert elicitation, " opening the door for any

outside party to challenge the way EPA applies the guidelines to assess

chemicals. Such a challenge could slow the agency down for months, if

not years, in making a decision on regulating a cancer-causing chemical,

according to NRDC. OMB further weakened the guidelines by adding

language requiring any EPA cancer evaluation to meet the standards of

the Data Quality Act, a law designed by tobacco industry consultants to

quash protective regulations. By opening the process to relentless

industry challenges, said Dr. Sass, OMB set the bar so high that

children will not be adequately protected from many cancer-causing

chemicals.

" The White House took what would have been strong guidelines to protect

our children from cancer and turned them into an industry punching bag, "

said Dr. Sass. " Chemical companies will be able to pummel any new

safeguard to death. The chemical industry wins, our children lose. "

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The Natural Resources Defense Council is a national, non-profit

organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists

dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. Founded in

1970, NRDC has more than 1 million e-activists and members, served from

offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. More

information is available at www.nrdc.org.