Climate change solutions
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Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
[My colleagues Dr. Jennifer McPartland, Lindsay McCormick, Ryan O’Connell, and Dr. Maricel Maffini assisted in the research described in this post.]
[Use this link to see all of our posts on Dourson.]
When the Trump Administration announced its intention to nominate Michael Dourson to head the office at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) charged with implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA issued a news release titled “Widespread Praise for Dr. Michael Dourson.” The release cited four toxicologists: Samuel M. Cohen, Jay I. Goodman, Gio Batta Gori and Kendall B. Wallace.
Far from representing a “widespread” set of endorsers, it turns out these four and Dourson constitute an exceedingly close-knit group. (more…)
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
[My colleague Ryan O’Connell assisted in the research described in this post.]
[Use this link to see all of our posts on Dourson.]
In a recent post I noted our initial findings from a review of published papers of Michael Dourson, the Trump Administration’s nominee to head the office at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) charged with implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). That review has shown that Dourson has been paid by dozens of companies and trade associations for work on dozens of their chemicals – including many of the same chemicals he will be charged with reviewing and regulating should he be confirmed.
Our review is uncovering additional curious features of Dourson’s published papers. (more…)
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
Last year’s Lautenberg Act, which overhauled the badly broken Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), made fundamental changes intended to improve EPA’s review of new chemicals prior to their commercialization, by requiring more scrutiny of those chemicals to better ensure they are safe. Until recently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on track in implementing the new requirements in a health-protective manner. With the addition of more staff, EPA was also steadily reducing the temporary backlog in new chemical reviews that had developed – a result of the fact that the law’s new requirements took effect immediately upon passage.
In recent months, however, agency staff have faced relentless pressure from the chemical industry – and internally from new industry-friendly senior management – not only to speed up reviews, but to return the program to its pre-Lautenberg practices. There were growing signs that EPA was considering changes that would circumvent the law’s requirements in the name of increasing program “throughput.” The agency’s press release today makes clear that this is now happening. (more…)
Tom Neltner, J.D., Chemicals Policy Director and Sam Lovell, Project Specialist
An estimated 6 to 10 million homes in the US still get their water from aging lead service lines (LSLs) – the lead pipes connecting the water main under the street to homes and other buildings. As the primary source of lead in drinking water, eliminating LSLs is essential to protecting public health and responding to community concerns.
Communities across the country are taking on the challenges posed by LSLs. EDF considers it important to recognize those leaders who are taking action. In a past blog, we highlighted the work of the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative and its 25 members, including EDF, in developing a toolkit to help communities accelerate replacement of LSLs. Additionally, the American Water Works Association – the main organization for drinking water professionals – deserves recognition for its declaration that LSLs need to be eliminated.
Through our review of publicly available information, EDF identified:
Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist.
At a time when public health and the environment, independent science and even basic truths are under sustained assault, we need more than ever to recognize scientists who persevered even in the face of concerted attacks by ideological and industry interests to discredit them and divert attention from the implications of their work.
Dr. Herbert Needleman, who passed away this month at the age of 89, was a shining example. (more…)
Each type of cell in our body expresses our genes differently based on many things including what they are (skin or kidney cells) and how old we are (newborn or 65 years old). These differences are controlled by our epigenome – the set of molecular marks along our DNA that dictate which and when genes turn on and off. Turns out our environment can influence and alter these marks!
For this episode we talked to Dr. Dana Dolinoy of the University of Michigan about her work on the epigenome, including how twin mom mice can birth very different looking newborns—either yellow and obese or brown and normal weight—depending on what they ate during pregnancy.
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