Climate change solutions
We deliver game-changing environmental solutions that have a real impact for people around the globe.
Featured
Our impact
For almost 60 years, we have been building innovative solutions to the biggest environmental challenges — from the soil to the sky.
Featured
About us
Guided by science and economics, and committed to climate justice, we work in the places, on the projects and with the people that can make the biggest difference.
Featured
Get involved
If we act now — together — there’s still time to build a future where people, the economy and the Earth can all thrive. Every one of us has a role to play. Choose yours.
Featured
News and stories
Stay informed and get inspired with our in-depth reporting about the people and ideas making a difference, insight from our experts and the latest environmental progress.
Featured
    • EDF Health

    Chemical Concerns – Insights on Air Pollution, Public Health, and Chemical Safety

    Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

    It probably goes without saying that EDF welcomes EPA’s decision to suspend the development and posting of risk-based prioritizations under its Chemical Assessment and Mangement Program (ChAMP).  EDF has been arguing (see our earlier posts) that ChAMP’s “rush to risk” has taken EPA badly off-track.  But we have also identified many useful things that EPA’s existing chemicals program can and should be doing with the data it obtained through the HPV Challenge (whether called ChAMP or not) .

    We look forward to working with EPA to craft a new approach, grounded in a return to developing scientifically defensible hazard, not risk, characterizations and transparently identifying and addressing data gaps and data quality problems.

    Cal Baier-Anderson, Ph.D., is a Health Scientist and Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

    Many of the screening-level hazard data being collected and analyzed under ChAMP that pertain to human health are derived from traditional laboratory animal studies.  The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently offered a “new paradigm for toxicity testing” in its 2008 report Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: a Vision and a Strategy.  Can ChAMP hazard data be used to facilitate the development of new testing strategies?  (more…)

    Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

    This new post serves as a response to Charlie Auer’s most recent comment responding to our critique of ChAMP.  (To see the whole exchange, start here, then go here, here and here.)  So far, this exchange has focused mainly on our disagreement over whether or not EPA is somehow required to do risk assessments under ChAMP.  At some point, I hope Charlie and others will engage on the substance of our critique – the serious concerns we’ve raised about the quality and validity of the ChAMP assessments.
    (more…)

    Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

    [Note:  This post was originally posted as a comment on Gina Solomon’s blog post on Huffington Post.  The context is a pending budget proposal from the Governor’s office in California to eliminate the State’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) under CalEPA and disperse some but not all of its functions to other agencies.  This proposal, if implemented, would in my view be truly tragic.  If you agree, make your voice heard!]  (more…)

    Cal Baier-Anderson, PhD, is a Health Scientist.

    In our critique of EPA’s Chemical Assessment and Management Program (ChAMP), we have pointed out that, despite its limitations, there is value in the hazard data that EPA is collecting and analyzing.  How so? (more…)

    Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist.

    As I noted in our first post on ChAMP, after getting off to a strong start in 2007, EPA’s abrupt decision in 2008 to steer ChAMP in the direction of cranking out hasty risk decisions was entirely its own.  Can ChAMP be put back on track?  (more…)