Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement today after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a list of 40 chemicals that it will consider for risk evaluations, a requirement under the 2016 Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act:
“Today’s announcement raises serious concerns that EPA is failing to prioritize evaluations of the most pressing chemical hazards and undermining the purpose of the Lautenberg Act. Instead of addressing dangerous emerging threats like perfluorinated chemicals, which are right now contaminating the drinking water of millions of Americans, the Agency is aiming to reevaluate chemicals like formaldehyde and phthalates - whose risks have already been rigorously evaluated and documented. Given the Trump EPA’s track record of whitewashing health risks and concealing information, there is good reason to worry that it is now opting to revisit these well-known risks in an effort to muddy the evidence.
“Unfortunately, EPA’s recent evaluation of Pigment Violet 29 only heightens that concern. Clandestine communications and undisclosed studies are no way to run a government agency, and certainly no way to ensure the health and safety of the communities relying on us to protect them.
“The tools and requirements laid out by the Lautenberg Act are meant to protect human health and the environment, not undermine established science. If EPA attempts to use the law toward any other ends, the Committee will hold it accountable."
EPA’s lists of high and low priority chemicals can be found here.
