{"id":9336,"date":"2020-01-13T16:47:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-13T21:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/?p=9336"},"modified":"2020-01-13T16:47:15","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T21:47:15","slug":"top-takeaways-from-the-intercepts-investigation-into-trumps-toxic-rollbacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/health\/2020\/01\/13\/top-takeaways-from-the-intercepts-investigation-into-trumps-toxic-rollbacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Top takeaways from The Intercept\u2019s investigation into Trump\u2019s toxic rollbacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regulatory decisions by federal agencies in Washington often feel distant \u2013 bureaucrats moving paper in ways that don\u2019t matter to regular people. But a devastating new story<\/a> by reporter Sharon Lerner of The Intercept<\/em> makes clear just how awful the Trump administration\u2019s actions on chemical safety have been for average Americans.<\/p>\n

Lerner shows that the Trump EPA has repeatedly bowed to industry lobbyists to allow dangerous chemicals to stay on or enter the market with little or no restrictions.<\/p>\n

EPA\u2019s actions are not abstract bureaucratic events to Angela Ramirez, who was diagnosed with breast cancer after years of living and working \u201cnear two facilities that were emitting a cancer-causing chemical called\u00a0ethylene oxide<\/a>.\u201d EPA scientists knew \u201cthat exposure to ethylene oxide caused elevated rates of tumors in the brain, lungs, uterus, and lymph systems\u201d \u2013 but under the Trump administration, following pressure from an industry trade group, EPA decided not to follow its own science deciding whether to limit the chemical.<\/p>\n

Lerner reports that the Trump administration, stacked with political appointees who have worked, lobbied or advocated for the chemical, tobacco, and coal industries, has been systematically undermining EPA\u2019s ability to use the best science and get the best expert advice to protect families. They\u2019ve been attacking programs like the Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS, which provides evidenced-based analysis to the government to make public health decisions.<\/p>\n

From Texas to Delaware and across the country, Lerner shows the impact of an administration that seems entirely focused on doing the bidding of industry, rather than pursing its legal mission to protect public health. They are doing so both broadly \u2013 weakening a new chemical safety law \u2013and in a series of individual chemical assessment decisions. \u201cEach time we see one of these assessments, there are ways in which the science has been played with,\u201d EDF\u2019s Lead Senior Scientist Richard Denison told Lerner.<\/p>\n

To read more about what Lerner calls \u201cTrump\u2019s cancer gang\u201d and their attacks on science and public health, check out her full article<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regulatory decisions by federal agencies in Washington often feel distant \u2013 bureaucrats moving paper in ways that don\u2019t matter to regular people. But a devastating new story by reporter Sharon Lerner of The Intercept makes clear just how awful the Trump administration\u2019s actions on chemical safety have been for average Americans. Lerner shows that the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,56093,39263,56096],"tags":[68,113948,106764,82],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-9336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-policy","category-industry-influence","category-public-health","category-omboira","tag-epa","tag-ethylene-oxide","tag-iris","tag-tsca"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t