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Thursday, September 20, 2007

EPA Still Going Nowhere on Endocrine Disruptors

In June, OMB Watch reported on EPA's new risk assessment program for endocrine disruptors. An endocrine disruptor is any substance which alters the function of the endocrine system. The endocrine system regulates certain mood, growth and development functions including hormonal and thyroid functions.

Scientists are still uncertain as to the types of substances which may be endocrine disruptors and the levels of exposure that may jeopardize public health. Scientists suspect endocrine disruptors to be commonly found in a number of consumer products including pesticides, cosmetics and finished plastics.

In 1996, Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA), which requires EPA to screen the effects of pesticides on the human endocrine system. Since then, EPA has done…well…nothing.

Congress is pressing EPA on the issue. Today, seven representatives wrote to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson expressing their displeasure with the inexplicable delay:

Over the past ten years, EPA has not completed a single step of this multi-stage process. This summer, the agency finally published its first draft list of chemicals to be screened by pesticide manufacturers for endocrine disrupting properties. This initial list of 73 chemicals is only a small fraction of the universe of 1,700 chemicals that the agency has identified for screening under the FQPA mandate, and a minute percentage of the 75,000 chemicals currently listed on the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory. EPA apparently has no internal deadline for identifying subsequent sets of chemicals for testing, and no plan whatsoever for ensuring that all chemicals of potential concern will be tested.