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.

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