White House Undermines EPA On Cancer Risks, GAO Says

May 2, 2008

April 28, 2008, CBS News/Associated Press

The Bush administration is undermining the Environmental Protection

Agency's ability to determine health dangers of toxic chemicals by

letting nonscientists have a bigger -- often secret -- say, congressional

investigators say in a report obtained by The Associated Press. The

administration's decision to give the Defense Department and other

agencies an early role in the process adds to years of delay in acting on

harmful chemicals and jeopardizes the program's credibility, the

Government Accountability Office concluded. At issue is the EPA's

screening of chemicals used in everything from household products to

rocket fuel to determine if they pose serious risk of cancer or other

illnesses. A new review process begun by the White House in 2004 is

adding more speed bumps for EPA scientists, the GAO said in its report. A

formal policy effectively doubling the number of steps was adopted two

weeks ago. Cancer risk assessments for nearly a dozen major chemicals are

now years overdue, the GAO said, blaming the new multiagency reviews

for some of the delay. GAO investigators said extensive involvement by

EPA managers, White House budget officials and other agencies has eroded

the independence of EPA scientists charged with determining the health

risks posed by chemicals. The Pentagon, the Energy Department, NASA and

other agencies -- all of which could be severely affected by EPA risk

findings -- are being allowed to participate " at almost every step

in the assessment process, " said the GAO. Those agencies, their

private contractors and manufacturers of the chemicals face restrictions

and major cleanup requirements, depending on the EPA's scientific

determinations.

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