Environmental Working Group (EWG): Caving to Industry Pressure, EPA Fires Chair of Chemical Panel
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 29, 2008
10:35 AM
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CONTACT: Environmental Working Group (EWG)
EWG Public Affairs, (202) 667-6982
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Caving to Industry Pressure, EPA Fires Chair of Chemical Panel
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WASHINGTON, DC - February 29 - Under pressure from chemical industry lobbyists, the Bush
Administration fired the chair of an expert science panel at the
Environmental Protection Agency that was evaluating the safety of a
neurotoxic fire retardant, according to documents obtained by Environmental
Working Group (EWG).
EPA is to issue by March 7 a reassessment of the human health risks from
Deca, an industrial fire retardant used in electronics and other consumer
products, and widely found in Americans' blood and breast milk. But last
summer EPA removed Dr. Deborah Rice, a Maine state scientist and author of
an important study of the chemical, as chair of the external advisory panel
for EPA's review of fire retardants.
Her firing came after a protest from the chemical industry, which claimed
Rice had a conflict of interest as a result of her testimony before the
Maine Legislature, on behalf of her agency, in favor of phasing out Deca.
EPA also removed her comments from the panelıs final report on Deca's
safety.
While the EPA and the chemical industry thought the presence of one of the
country's preeminent experts on the toxic fire retardant Deca had no
business chairing the advisory panel, scores of individuals with direct
financial ties to the chemical industry remain on a number of different
external advisory panels.
An EWG review of 7 external expert panels convened last year under EPAıs
Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) found 17 members with direct or
potential conflicts of interest, including employees of companies who make
the chemicals under review or scientists whose work was funded by industries
with a financial stake in the panelıs outcome.
"This is clear evidence of a blatant double standard where, the interests of
the chemical industry come before the publicıs health," said Jane Houlihan,
vice president for research at EWG. "When the government removes top
scientists from positions because they express concerns over potential
health risks from industrial chemicals at the same time leaving dozens of
scientists with direct ties to the chemical industry on review panels
something is very wrong."
In a May 3, 2007 letter to EPA, American Chemistry Council lobbyist Sharon
H. Kneiss complained that Rice had shown an "appearance of bias" when she
testified before the state legislature on behalf of the Maine Centers for
Disease Control in favor of phasing out Deca. The letter and related
documents are available at: http://www.ewg.org/reports/decaconflict
Rice was the panel member most knowledgeable about Deca, which is a
developmental neurotoxin. A retired EPA scientist, Rice co-authored an
important study on the chemical's toxicity to the brain and nervous system
during development. She also spearheaded a regulatory review mandated by
Maine law to investigate the feasibility of replacing the fire retardant
with less toxic chemicals.
"³Under this logic the only people eligible to sit on science advisory panels
at EPA are individuals that have never uttered a single remark or written a
single word expressing concerns over the chemical in question, or people
with financial ties to the chemical industry,² added Houlihan. ³This bias in
favor of the chemical industry places our most vulnerable populations at
even greater risk from chemical exposure."
EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses
the power of information to protect human health and the environment.
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