Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections

Military-use substances were deemed less toxic, key reviews stalled

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 11, 2008 4:15 PM CST

(Newser) – The Environmental Protection Agency program that rates the toxicity of chemicals used in the US, and around the world, has been manipulated in favor of industry and the military under the Bush administration, Rebecca Claren reports in Salon. Budget-cutting directives from the White House have allowed outside organizations, including the Pentagon, to stall or downgrade assessments, potentially endangering thousands of people.

The Integrated Risk Information System is essentially the clearinghouse for chemical assessment, and directs government response to contamination. If a toxin is labeled less harmful, less action is necessary, and money is saved. At least two chemicals used by the military have been deemed much safer than they would have been had the EPA acted alone. It’s “like industry selecting its own cleanup standards,” one scientist said.

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[Quotes (2)]

A chemist works at a laboratory. (AP Photo)

A flower farmer sprays his crop. (AP Photo)

A federal judge is challenging the validity of data behind the government's assertion that converting industrial pollution and raw sewage into free fertilizer for farmers poses no health risk. (AP Photo)

Workers clean a jet fighter. (AP Photo)

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It feels like Stalin-era Russia, like the administration set themselves up to decide what's allowable science and what isn't. One of the ways to undermine regulations is to undermine the science
behind them.
- A high-ranking staff scientist at the EPA

We've heard the criticisms that this is somehow allowing a backdoor, but it should be noted that all draft IRIS assessments are peer reviewed by outside experts. If it doesn't pass scientific muster, we won't accept it.
- George Gray, EPA official

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Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections