EPA Criticized for How It Selects Data to Evaluate Chemical Risk

A strategy the EPA is using to decide what scientific data it will use to decide whether a chemical’s potential to harm people or the environment is so great it must be regulated could ignore potential harms, academic scientists and an environmental group said Tuesday.

Scientists and an attorney offered perspectives at an advisory committee meeting on a draft “systematic review” protocol. The Environmental Protection Agency revamped the protocol after dropping a previous method the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine criticized last year. The academies said EPA’s strategy wasn’t comprehensive, workable, objective, or transparent.

Systematic reviews determine ...