Report Indicates Political Appointees at EPA Delayed Assessments
Political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delayed reviews of toxic chemicals for months in 2018 during a review to see if the agency's work met the leadership's priorities, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. This ultimately reduced the number of chemicals being assessed after saying they were not a priority. The GAO says EPA leadership told staff in the program that evaluates the risk of chemicals, known as the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), to hold off on publishing any of their work while they discussed "program priorities." The EPA acknowledged there was a delay while the agency surveyed offices on the chemicals being assessed but that it would eventually improve the process. The EPA said it conducted a survey to identify which chemical assessments are priorities and instituted a process where the programs identified them. The resulting list dropped 11 chemicals, including formaldehyde, and it has not responded to requests for comment on the current status of the health assessment for formaldehyde. Meanwhile, the GAO report notes that the EPA has met several deadlines to improve how it evaluates chemicals, but that there are still concerns about whether the agency has enough resources to meet future deadlines and be transparent about how decisions are made.