EPA’s Method to Identify Chemical Concerns Rejected by Advisers

The EPA has more work to do in developing its strategy to identify communities with higher-than-average exposures to potentially harmful hazardous chemicals, science advisers said this week.

The advisers, whose three-day meeting ended Thursday, recommended dozens of ways that the Environmental Protection Agency could examine how people breathe in, drink, touch, or eat industrial chemicals, as well as sources for such data.

But implementing all those recommendations increases the likelihood of delays in regulations to protect people, which the EPA is required to issue for seven solvents used for decades by industries ranging from dry cleaners to semiconductor manufacturers.

The ...