Updates on Investigations into
EPA’s New Chemicals Program
PEER has been representing scientists who have risked their careers to expose significant problems in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new chemicals review process since 2020. These scientists came to us because they were concerned that actions by EPA managers were endangering the public’s health.
This page contains updates on our work with these courageous scientists, including relevant press releases and links to reports and supporting materials.
In September 2024, EPA’s Inspector General’s (IG) released the first in a series of reports on the scientists’ disclosures about wrongdoing in the EPA’s new chemicals program. The reports confirmed what we have long known: that EPA retaliated against PEER clients for protesting when career EPA officials deleted or watered down the health risks in new chemical assessments so they could be rushed onto the market.
These risks included major birth defect hazards, heightened fetal toxicity, and carcinogenicity. The scientists came forward because they felt the agency’s actions put public health in jeopardy by exposing consumers and workers to chemical hazards for which there were inadequate warnings, or no warnings at all.
The IG reports characterize a work environment where quickly approving chemicals for use was the primary task of EPA scientists.
Staff and managers describe the pressure to meet deadlines to approve new chemicals as “ridiculous” and described the pressure to speed up chemical reviews as “intense,” and that management was “pushing us like animals on a farm.” The IG reports disclosed that the whistleblowers were called “piranhas,” “pot stirrers,” accused of “trying to indict every chemical,” and accused of holding cases “hostage” by delays that managers conceded were “legitimate” concerns. The retaliations identified by the IG in these reports occurred during the Trump administration, although the problems they outlined in their complaints to the IG are continuing today.
In a report issued in 2023, the IG found that after 3,830 new chemical reviews, not a single chemical had been barred from entering the marketplace. The IG concluded that: “EPA does not have reasonable assurance that the new chemicals review process is properly considering and addressing risks to public health and the environment.”
The IG will release additional reports in the near future on the issues raised by our clients. With a new administration soon to be in place, these reports will provide an important roadmap to reforming EPA so that it takes its mandate to protect public health seriously.
READ MORE NEWS ON WHISTLEBLOWERS &
CHEMICAL REGULATION
STATEMENT | IG Report Finds EPA New Chemical Review Process Badly Broken
EPA has not complied with applicable record keeping and quality assurance requirements when implementing its New Chemicals Program
Fumigant Decision Shows EPA Science at Its Worst
EPA Doubles Down on Mistakes Despite Whistleblower and IG Critiques
EPA Routinely Ignores Chemical Risk Calculations
Workers imperiled by failures to flag serious known hazards.
EPA Corrupted Pesticide Risk Assessment to Aid Industry
IG Found Managers Trampled Standard Procedures to Diminish Cancer Risk
EPA Scientist Survey Yields Horrific Results
Scientist Feedback Scathing, Not Shared with Staff
Lack of Scientists Dooms EPA Chemical Reviews
Crippling Staff Shortage in Chemical Safety Work Continues in 2022 Budget
COMMENTARY | EPA Sets Low Bar on Chemical Safety – And Trips Over It
EPA staff are under pressure, and often retaliated against, to remove chemical hazard information and to keep quiet about it.
EPA Belatedly Posts Industry Chemical Safety Warnings
PEER Suit Prompts EPA to Unearth Over 1,300 Industry Chem Substantial Risk Reports