EPA’s Chemical Assessment Program Slowly Improving

It will take EPA up to five more years to reform its program for assessing the potential hazards and risks associated with industrial chemicals, says Kenneth Olden, director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has identified shortcomings in EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System and has called for fundamental improvements to the program’s scientific foundation. Testifying last week before the House of Representatives Science, Space & Technology Committee, Olden assured lawmakers that EPA is making progress. But he said it will take another three to five years to completely implement NAS’s recommendations. Michael P. Walls, vice president of regulatory and technical affairs at the American Chemistry Council, an industry trade group, agreed that EPA has addressed some concerns raised by NAS. But he said the “most critical changes needed to achieve the scientific standards” recommended by NAS have not yet been made. EPA still needs to improve how scientific evidence is evaluated and integrated into assessments and to enhance how information is communicated to the public, Walls told the panel.