"The Flawed EPA Program that Needs to be Cut From the Federal Budget," By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. As the Trump administration and Congress look for items to trim from the federal budget, they should paint a target on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — and then pull the trigger. Though its supporters laud it as the “gold standard for risk assessment,” the program has a long history of sloppy research that lacks transparency. IRIS is a … [Read more...]
EPA Risk Assessment Program
May 16, 2018
"EPA IRIS Program Is Hardly The 'Gold Standard'” By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. Don’t be fooled by those who say the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) sets the gold standard for chemical risk assessments. In addition to a long history of sloppy research, lack of transparency, and low productivity, IRIS suffers from a more fundamental flaw that recent reform efforts are unlikely to resolve. EPA officials created IRIS administratively in 1984 as … [Read more...]
EPA’s Excessive Caution
May 16, 2018
"Excessive Caution at EPA Produces Absurd Conclusions" By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. In an April 24 blog post, I detailed why a recent National Academies of Sciences review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Integrated Risk Information System—a research program that conducts chemical risk assessments—should be disregarded. Basically, NAS did nothing more than pat EPA on the back for having finally implemented some of NAS’s recommended procedural reforms that the agency should have put in … [Read more...]
Secret Science Rule is Pro-science, Pro-consumer
April 30, 2018
"Pruitt’s Rule Ending Secret Science is Pro-science, Pro-consumer," Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s proposed rule to increase public access to scientific data makes eminent sense, since transparency is a cornerstone of the scientific process. The public should have access to data that agencies use to pass regulations that impose economic burdens and limit consumer choice. Pruitt modeled this rule after the Honest and Open New EPA Science Treatment (HONEST) Act (H.R. … [Read more...]
Failures of Chemical Safety Research at Environmental Protection Agency
April 24, 2018
Systematic Failures of Chemical Safety Research at Environmental Protection Agency By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” could be the motto of one of the key research programs at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency known as the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). EPA staff have been working for nearly a decade to improve the scientific process of this program, but have yet to get it right. IRIS has proven controversial because of its … [Read more...]
Eric Lipton Smears EPA Chemical Office Official Nancy Beck
November 9, 2017
"New York Times' Eric Lipton Smears EPA Chemical Office Official Nancy Beck," By Angela Logomasini. Recently, Project Veritas released a series of undercover videos that reveal how New York Times journalists are more interested in smearing the Trump administration than in reporting objective news. But you don’t need to go undercover to see examples of such unfair and biased New York Times reporting. A recent example is Eric Lipton’s article related to Nancy Beck, whom Trump selected to work in … [Read more...]
Funding TSCA While Cutting the EPA Budget
April 28, 2017
"Trump Can Fund Chemical Safety Review while Cutting EPA Budget," By Angela Logomasini. Some observers express doubt that the Trump administration can cut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget by 31 percent and still fund implementation of the newly reformed Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), the law that governs the usage of new and existing chemicals found in consumer products from household cleaners to plastic toys. But a recently leaked EPA memo reveals there are plenty of … [Read more...]
Targeting Unaccountable EPA Programs
December 20, 2016
"Congress Should Target Unaccountable EPA Programs," By Angela Logomasini, Ph.D. The newly elected congressional majority should be ready and willing to help implement President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to tackle onerous regulations. But what about so called “non-regulatory programs” that have significant public policy and marketplace impacts? Congress can address problems associated with such programs by defunding them or by bringing them under the authority of existing environmental laws. … [Read more...]
Pesticide Bans Doing Harm Rather than Good
August 22, 2014
"EPA Pesticide Bans Threaten You and the Economy," By By Alan Caruba. When Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring”, was published, filled with totally false claims about DDT, the Environmental Protection Agency looked it over and concluded she had used manipulated data. They concluded that DDT should not be banned, but its first administrator, William Ruckleshaus, overruled the agency and imposed a ban. ... I cite this history from the 1970s because most people believe that the EPA operates on … [Read more...]
EPA Science and Siloxanes
December 5, 2012
"Chemical fight offers early look at Obama's second-term EPA," by Jeff Stier In an op-ed in today’s Washington Examiner, I explain how the second Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency will seek to use sound bites, rather than sound science, to pursue an agenda of more excessive and more costly regulation. And when possible, they’ll try to do it below the radar. I write ...Read the full article on the National Center Blog. … [Read more...]
EPA Bureaucracy and the Economy
September 25, 2012
"Manufactured Fear Drives Needless Regulations," by Julie Gunlock As sure as the sun rises in the morning, Americans can count on their televisions and newspapers to brim with daily reports of all the dangerous products lurking in their homes. Women in particular are told commonplace items like shampoo, deodorant, plastic food containers, household disinfectants, children’s toys, baby bottles, and garden hoses threaten them and their families. Even living room furniture is now cast as a … [Read more...]
EPA and Clean Air Cases
August 30, 2012
"Obama’s EPA before the bar: People Two, EPA Zero," By Sterling Burnett The EPA continues its terrible record in the federal courts this year. On March 27, I noted a series of setbacks that the EPA suffered in the courts — instances where EPA zealotry led to insupportable overreach on the agency’s part. For the EPA the hits keep on coming. In August alone two more appeals courts have ruled against the EPA. On August 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected the EPA’s … [Read more...]
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), EPA, and Asthma Inhalers
July 19, 2012
"EPA Interference That Will Take Your Breath Away," by Carrie L. Lukas. IWF has long written about how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been harmful to the economy and the wallets of average Americans. But did you know the EPA is harmful to your health, too? In its rush to protect the ozone layer, the EPA issued sweeping rules phasing out the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which has actually ended up banning a number of asthma inhalers. Take a deep breath and let that settle in … [Read more...]
