Internal emails reveal how the chemical lobby fights regulation
Source: The Guardian
Internal emails reveal how the chemical lobby fights regulation
Messages to the Environmental Protection Agency from lobbyists show tactic of sowing doubt in science, critics say
Emily Holden in Washington
Wed 22 May 2019 07.00 BST Last modified on Wed 22 May 2019 09.37 BST
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It was only after her doctor put her on cancer watch that state inspectors found a tank of toxic chemicals under the floor of a neighboring shop.
One of the chemicals, a degreaser called trichloroethylene (TCE), is dangerous enough to humans that the Obama administration sought to ban its use as a spot treatment in dry cleaning. It has been linked with the organ problems DePotter experienced, as well as cancer and birth defects. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says: “TCE is carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure”.
Donald Trump’s EPA, though, has chosen not to finalize the ban, one win among many for the powerful chemicals lobby whose former advocates have been appointed to senior jobs inside the regulator since his election.
The EPA could take years to review TCE, one of the first 10 chemicals it will consider under an update to US chemical laws. And internal emails obtained by the Sierra Club in a public records lawsuit reveal the industry wanted to go even further and to also relax guidelines for quickly cleaning up contaminated sites.
Documents analysed by the Guardian show industry lobbying against the science linking illnesses and TCE and two other controversial chemicals – formaldehyde and hexavalent chromium.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/internal-emails-reveal-how-the-chemical-lobby-fights-regulation
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