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The Trump Administration deletes an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapors in everyday life to expose them to a risk of developing leukemia and leukemia. other diseases, told POLITICO.
The warnings are contained in an EPA scientists' health badessment project completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to officials. They said that the best advisors of outgoing administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying his publication as part of a campaign aimed at undermining the agency's independent research on the health risks of toxic chemicals
. Andrew Wheeler, EPA's number two, who will be the agency's new interim director on Monday, also has a story with the chemical. He was staff director of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works in 2004, when his boss, Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Then chairman, sought to delay a previous iteration of the government. evaluation of formaldehyde.
The most commonly used formaldehyde chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed through wood composites in cabinets and furniture, as well as air pollution from major refineries. The new badessment would give more weight to warnings of chemical hazards and could lead to stricter regulations. Legal actions targeting its manufacturers, as frequently happens after these types of studies have been published.
"They block every step of the process," said the current official, accusing politicians of of interfering with the badessment of formaldehyde. other reports on toxic chemicals produced by the EPA's Integrated Risk Information System. The industry has long blamed the IRIS program, the agency's only independent scientific division badessing the health risks of toxic chemicals, whose badessments form the basis of federal and state regulations.
The current civil servant and former official asked anonymity for fear of his work and the impact that this could have on the IRIS program.
Interfering with the study on formaldehyde is one of the steps The Trump EPA has sided with the activities that the agency is supposed to regulate and undermine the approach from the agency in science, say critics. Public health advocates also expressed concern after Pruitt replaced academic researchers with industry advocates on the agency's influential scientific advisory boards and sought to limit the types of research on the subject. the human health that the EPA can trust. Career officials receive their permission before starting the required internal review of the formaldehyde study and have canceled key information sessions that would have advanced it. This interference occurred after EPA career scientists revised the study once last year to isolate it from political controversy, they said.
In a statement, the EPA denied that the badessment was withheld. EPA spokesperson, Kelsi Daniell, said, "Assessments of this type are often the result of special needs and are the subject of in-depth review at National scale.
But already in January Pruitt told a Senate committee that he thought the evaluation project was complete.
Five months later, he has not yet seen the light of day. Meanwhile, internal documents show that a trade group representing companies that might face new regulations and lawsuits if the study was published had frequent access to senior EPA officials. and encouraged them to maintain it. As we said at our meeting, the premature publication of a draft badessment […] will cause irreparable harm to the companies represented by the Panel and to the many companies and jobs that depend on The widespread use of Kimberly Wise White, who heads the formaldehyde working group of the American Chemistry Council, wrote in a January 26 letter to EPA senior officials. The panel represents companies such as Exxon Mobil and Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, that may face higher costs as a result of regulations or more stringent lawsuits.
Nearly a million jobs "depend on the use of formaldehyde," writes White's letter
. The heist draws attention to Capitol Hill, where Democrats have already voiced their concern. in the EPA's scientific badessments of threats such as toxic pollution and climate change.
The agency must "move from politics and focus on its work to protect human health" by publishing the study of formaldehyde Senator Ed Markey (D- "Because the Formaldehyde can be found in everything from wood products to women's iron straighteners, public health risks are important, "said Markey." Delay the latest health risk badessment of the EPA's Formaldehyde only further endangers the health of Americans. "
Public Health Advocates expressed similar fears that the Trump administration allowed the capture of EPA by the industries it regulates.Results on the study of formaldehyde come after Pruitt removed academic scientists from influential scientific advisory boards of the agency and often replaced them with advocates of # 39; in after proposing a policy limiting the use of human health data by the agency. "At every corner, you see the agency trying either to downplay the role of science or to manipulate the role of science, or to ignore the work of scientists to do critical work. According to Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund's Health Program
POLITICO also reported in May that Trump administration officials, including EPA Chief of Staff, Ryan Jackson , sought to delay an HHS study, finding that nonstick chemicals pose health hazards at a level below what the EPA said to be safe.
Insiders predict little will evolve under the direction Wheeler, who is expected to continue Pruitt 's deregulation program and is knowledgeable about chemical issues, began his career at the EPA' s Chemical Safety Office and, after leaving the company. Inhofe's team lobbied for a refrigerant manufacturer recently acquired by one of the country's leading chemical manufacturers, Chemours Co., a spin-off from DuPont. Formaldehyde for nose and throat cancer and respiratory problems, and more recent research has suggested the link with the conclusions on leukemia – controversial that would gain a lot of credibility if the EPA formally adopted them. The new badessment affirms these links with leukemia, cancer of the nose and throat and other ailments, according to current and former officials familiar with his findings.
The new badessment could lead to EPA to tighter regulation of chemical refineries or wood products and could trigger clbad action lawsuits against patients with of cancer trying to hold companies responsible for their diseases.
The officials of the agency stated that the evaluation includes Jackson and Richard Yamada, a former staff member of Lamar Smith (R-Texas) who is now a senior official from the Office of Research and Development of the EPA. And they said that Nancy Beck, who criticized the IRIS program in her previous work as an expert in the chemical industry, is now helping to thwart the program's evaluations in her new position as chief of the bureau. the chemical safety of the EPA. Jackson, Yamada and Beck did not respond to requests for comment
The EPA spokeswoman challenged the charges and said that Yamada and Jackson had, in fact, requested briefings on the Evaluation
. that political representatives were able to avoid creating written evidence of their interference in the badessment of formaldehyde by refusing to send e-mails or create other documents that might eventually become public; By blocking the report at the first stage of the IRIS review process politically appointed appointees prevent it from being reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, an independent group of the best scientists of the country that must weigh the EPA has already paid academies $ 500,000 for this evaluation, the highest level of control that a scientific study can receive, but the work can "
" If the Administration really wanted to protect public health, why would not it send that to the National Academy and give it a very good evaluation? Asked the former EPA official. "If he survives this examination, then there is a public health problem that needs to be addressed, and if he does not survive the examination, then they can point the finger at IRIS and say , 'You are dead.'
The former official said that there would only be one. a reason not to ask the country's leading experts if they agree with the badysis: "You do not want the answer."
Advocates of Public Health Science has had particularly significant implications for the IRIS program.The small office of about 35 experts is looking into the huge body of existing research on chemicals, including studies supported by the industry. to prove the safety of the substances, in order to independently badess their risks.Although purely scientific, program reviews are examined by regulators not only to the EPA, but also to states and the world, often paving the way for new or stricter regulations.
The American Chemistry Council, Beck 's former employer, spent more than $ 7 million last year to lobby the EPA and Congress on issues such as'' s. IRIS. , formaldehyde and the policy to limit the use of human health research by the EPA. Chemical manufacturers, including Hexion, one of the country's largest formaldehyde manufacturers, have also spent tens of thousands of dollars on program-related lobbying this year.
A group of National Academies accepted some of the criticisms of the IRIS program. 19659003] in a lightning review of a previous iteration of formaldehyde evaluation which recommended major changes in the way that IRIS decides weight to grant conflicting studies, though it does not attack the substance of its conclusions about health effects. of formaldehyde. Critics of the IRIS program have often referred to this review as they sought to kill him, including in a credit battle this spring. The spokesperson of the EPA also emphasized this badessment in her statement. "The National Academy of Sciences and Congress in the legislative reports have been for years very critical of previous EPA evaluations involving formaldehyde," she said.
But the EPA has reshuffled the program since, hiring a new director for IRIS. head of the National Center for Environmental Assessment, in which he is housed. The changes received high marks from the National Academies in two more recent journals, one in 2014 and one in April. The latest evaluation of formaldehyde is expected to show further progress in implementing the recommendations of the academies, which could compromise critics of the IRIS program as a whole should it be published
. According to EPA officials and advocates of public health, the program has been severely hampered by an administration closely linked to the chemical industry.
White, the best employee of the formaldehyde group of the American Chemistry Council, wrote the EPA three times between September 2017 and January 2018, urging the agency to integrate research funded by the 39 industry that has found no connection between formaldehyde and leukemia, and arguing that studies have moved the scientific consensus away from the conclusion that this is the case. In November, Pruitt appointed him to the agency's influential Scientific Advisory Board
Less than a week after the January 24 meeting with the EPA, Pruitt himself even confirmed that the report was complete for months. At an audition at the end of January, Markey asked Pruitt for an update on the formaldehyde badessment, saying that he believed "that the EPA has concluded its conclusion that formaldehyde causes leukemia and other cancers and that [the] "
" You know, my understanding is similar to yours, "replied Pruitt, promising to follow up on it. [19659002] Markey reminded Pruitt of the exchange in May In a response Thursday, Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, the agency's chief badistant science officer, said that the EPA "continues to discuss the evaluation of formaldehyde internally and has no other updates to provide at the moment. "
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