The chemical industry and US Department of Defense responded to the 70s/80s' renaissance of clean air, water and workplace regulation by starting a new field of “science” to downplay the dangers of hazardous chemicals. But most disturbing is that the EPA and other U.S. agencies have helped fund this phony research with hundreds of $millions!
These new regulatory toxicologists, says Truthout, often rely on computer simulations called "physiologically based pharmacokinetic" (PBPK) modeling." While “health effects scientists,” like epidemiologists and endocrinologists, base their conclusions on “direct observations of how chemicals actually affect living things.”
Scientists with the Department of Defense, which is one of the biggest users and storers of deadly chemicals like methylene chloride, invented PBPK modeling, says Truthout, a system that can " be manipulated to minimize the appearance of chemical risks.”
As a result of PBPK data's inclusion in the federal chemical review process, adds Truthout, “chemicals known to be harmful to human health remain largely unregulated” in the U.S- "often with deadly results." For example, in 1988, because of a PBPK assessment, the EPA backed off its regulation of methylene chloride. Other deadly chemicals whose risks were minimized and regulation delayed by PBPK include formaldehyde, tricholorethylene, BPA and the pesticide chlorpyrifos. The latter, a nerve poison, was used widely in schools until it was finally banned for indoor use in late 1999.
EPA’s job is to protect Americans and the environment from the damaging effects of toxic chemicals, not to collude with industry to downplay these hazards. Sign this petition to insist EPA and US DHHS stop supporting regulatory toxicology’s pseudoscience.
To the U.S. Envonrmental Protection Agency and Department of Health and Human Services:
We, the undersigned, say Truthout's report, combined with a recent warning by International Federation of Gynocology and Obstetrics, demand reform of EPA's regulatory process and all government agencies' support of and reliance upon industry-friendly chemcal risk assessments.
Despite the serious warning by the International Federation of Gynocology and Obstetrics (FIGO) that “We are drowning our world in untested and unsafe chemicals, and the price we are paying in terms of our reproductive health is of serious concern," Truthout says “chemical regulation in the United States has proceeded at a glacial pace. And corporate profit is at the heart of the story."
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