E.P.A. Places the Head of Its Office of Children's Health on Leave

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times



By Coral Davenport and Roni Caryn Rabin

Sept. 26, 2018

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday placed the head of its Office of Children’s Health Protection on administrative leave, an unusual move that appeared to reflect an effort to minimize the role of the office.

Dr. Ruth Etzel, a pediatrician and epidemiologist who has been a leader in children’s environmental health for 30 years, joined the E.P.A. in 2015 after having served as a senior officer for environmental health research at the World Health Organization. She was placed on administrative leave late Tuesday and asked to hand over her badge, keys and cellphone, according to an E.P.A. official familiar with the decision who was not authorized to discuss the move and who asked not to be identified.

The official said Dr. Etzel was not facing disciplinary action and would continue to receive pay and benefits. No explanation was offered to the staff on Tuesday.

An E.P.A. spokesman, John Konkus, declined to give a reason for the administrative leave.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/climate/epa-etzel-children-health-program.html

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A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 27, 2018, on Page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Top Children’s Health Official At E.P.A. Is Placed on Leave.

[hlthe2b]

1. This is not good. She is very accomplished with prior time at CDC and WHO in public health

EPA has been eroding to an agency of lawyers over scientists--for decades, but this is symbolic of systematic dismantling, IMO.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

2. Probably got caught laughing at tRump.

Our race to the bottom continues.


......... .........

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Love fetus, hate "other's" children. Child incarceration, now this. . . . nt

[Ramsey Barner]

4. For today's Republicans,

"Life begins at conception and ends at birth."
-Dan Rottenberg

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. "I appear to be the 'fall guy' for their plan to 'disappear' the office of children's health"

A top EPA official just put on administrative leave said the Trump administration was trying to “disappear” her office dedicated to children’s health, according to an email obtained by BuzzFeed News.

Ruth Etzel, the director of the Office of Children’s Health Protection and an internationally renowned expert who cowrote the field’s “bible,” was placed on administrative leave Tuesday, the New York Times first reported.

“I appear to be the ‘fall guy’ for their plan to ‘disappear’ the office of children’s health,” Etzel wrote Tuesday to the leader of a nonprofit, in an email shared widely among academics and advocates.
...
“It had been apparent for about 5 months that the top EPA leaders were conducting ‘guerrilla warfare’ against me as the leader of OCHP, but now it’s clearly official,” Etzel wrote. Etzel did not respond to requests for comment from BuzzFeed News.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhisubbaraman/ruth-etzel-epa-childrens-health-office

[riversedge]

6. Here is the reason why---Trump wants deregulations, she wants to save kids health!.....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/climate/epa-etzel-children-health-program.html
.............Four people within the E.P.A. and a dozen or so who work closely with the agency said that Dr. Etzel’s dismissal was one of several recent developments that have slowed the work of her department, the Office of Children’s Health Protection. Created by President Bill Clinton in 1997, it advises the E.P.A. leadership on the specific health and environmental-protection needs of children, which often leads to tougher or more stringent regulatory standards than those that might be required for adults.

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That is because children can be more vulnerable than adults to pollutants or chemicals because their bodies are still developing and because they eat, drink and breathe more, relative to their size. In addition, some of their behaviors, such as crawling or putting things in their mouths, potentially expose them to chemicals or other harmful substances.

As a result, the findings of the office often lead to a push for stronger regulations on industrial pollutants such mercury and pesticides, which are linked to nerve damage in children, and smog, which is linked to increased rates of childhood asthma.

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“To take away the badge and access from a top career official and shove them out the door is very rare,” said Christine Todd Whitman, who headed the E.P.A. under President George W. Bush. “If they’re not saying why they dismissed her, it creates the impression that it’s about the policies she worked on.” She described the children’s health office at the E.P.A. as “critical to the health of the future.”

Public health experts said that, since the start of the Trump administration, they had seen a clash between the E.P.A.’s top leadership, appointed by a president who has pushed for weakening environmental rules, and the children’s health office.