The Bush administration is packing an advisory committee on childhood lead poisoning with those friendly to industry and predisposed against new regulation, according to a new report released by Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA).

The committee, in place for more than a decade, examines the science of lead poisoning and advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on appropriate policy measures, including the limit on acceptable lead levels in the blood -- an issue the committee is set to reexamine. According to the CDC, more than 890,000 children in the United States between the ages of 1 and 5 have elevated levels of lead in their blood, which can result in damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, reproductive system, as well as decreased intelligence, among other harmful effects.

The office of Tommy Thompson, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which includes the CDC, has been closely involved in the selection process, nixing a number of nominations in favor of a panel more sympathetic to industry -- a practice recently observed at other advisory committees as well. Susan Cummins, chair of the lead advisory committee from 1995 to September 2000, told BNA (a Washington trade publication) that the HHS secretary had never previously rejected nominations by the committee or CDC staff.

Michael Wetzman, pediatrician in chief at Rochester General Hospital and author of numerous publications on lead poisoning, was not reappointed to the committee as expected when his term recently expired, and the nominations of two other accomplished doctors with expertise in lead poisoning were also rebuffed by agency higher-ups. Instead, CDC put forth four nominees who are closely allied with the lead industry (Markey was unable to determine the affiliation and expertise of a fifth nominee). Specifically, they are:

• William Banner, professor of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma, who has served as an expert witness for the lead industry, downplaying the effects of lead on children;
• Joyce Tsuji, principle scientist at Exponent, whose corporate clients include ASARCO, which is now involved in a lead dispute with EPA, Dow Chemical, and Dupont (Tsuji told BNA she has since withdrawn her nomination due to scheduling conflicts);
• Sergio Piomelli, a professor at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, who has argued against lowering the acceptable limit of lead in the blood, saying “there is no epidemic of lead poisoning in the United States today, but some people are trying to create an epidemic by decree”; and
• Kimberly Thompson, an assistant professor of risk analysis and decision science at Harvard, who is affiliated with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA), which has 22 corporate funders with a financial interest in the deliberations of the lead advisory committee, according to Markey. This includes Ciba-Geigy Corp., FMC Corp., and Monsanto, which have superfund sites with lead contamination. (The administration’s regulatory czar John Graham, who has bottled up health, safety, and environmental protections across federal agencies, is the former director of HCRA.)

These proposed nominees, who have not yet been formally selected, were revealed in an email from a CDC representative to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which forwarded it to Markey.

“It makes you wonder, if the Bush Administration was seeking advice on whether the sun revolved around the earth or vice versa, would it take Galileo off the committee and replace him with the Inquisition?,” Markey said in a press release. “Since a key issue for this advisory committee is whether low-dose exposure to lead will adversely affect childhood development, I am concerned that noted academic experts are being replaced by individuals who appear to have conflicts of interest that could prevent them from providing advice that will lead to the most protective health standards for our children.”

Markey unveiled his report at a press conference on October 8 that was also attended by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), along with NRDC. In addition, Markey, joined by other colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary Thompson requesting additional information on the overhaul of the lead advisory committee.