Key House Members Support Toxicologist After Reporting On Katrina Trailers Brought Demotion

[hatrack]

Key House lawmakers say a federal scientist who was reassigned after alerting his superiors about risks from formaldehyde in trailers supplied to Gulf Coast hurricane survivors is a whistle-blower in need of protection.

The scientist, Christopher De Rosa, also pushed for release of a withheld federal report on toxic substances in the Great Lakes.

De Rosa is the former director of the division of toxicology and environmental medicine at the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR). The 28-year federal employee was removed from his post in October 2007 and demoted to what one congressional aide describes as "the job track to nowhere."

In February, De Rosa was given a 90-day "personal improvement plan," which Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, describes as "a formal step toward termination." In recent weeks, Dingell and Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the House Science & Technology Committee, have sent letters to ATSDR Administrator Julie L. Gerberding, instructing her to protect De Rosa from retaliation.

EDIT

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/86/i14/8614news4.html

[diane in sf]

1. I hope De Rosa can hang in there another year--we need him!