Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
Yesterday EDF submitted comments on a supplement to EPA’s 1,4-dioxane risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which the agency issued a scant three weeks ago.
This solvent is a likely human carcinogen that contaminates drinking water nationwide and is present in millions of consumer products.[pullquote]What EPA left out of its analysis swallows what it included.[/pullquote]
The supplement expands the scope of EPA’s ongoing risk evaluation of 1,4-dioxane. It now includes certain water exposures and certain exposures of consumers to products in which the chemical is present as a contaminant (more technically, a “byproduct”).
EPA rushed the public comment period, providing only 20 days and refusing requests from at least 14 organizations for an extension. The agency also cut out another vital step in the process – peer review –in violation of its own rules for how risk evaluations are to be conducted.
But that wasn’t the only thing EPA rushed. The Supplement itself was an 11th-hour affair, done mainly to appease a hypocritical demand from the formulated chemical products industry.
The haste with which it was assembled badly shows. The additional exposures EPA examined are so narrowly constructed as to omit major, and potentially the largest, sources of exposure and risk people face from the presence of 1,4-dioxane in water and products.
And what EPA left out of its analysis swallows what it included. Read More
