The Environmental Protection Agency is pushing back after former officials claimed that retiring a controversial risk analysis program will put Americans at risk for toxic exposure.
The Integrated Risk Information System, which the EPA created without a mandate from Congress in 1985, has reportedly exaggerated the risk of certain chemicals, leading to negative real-world consequences. Under Administrator Lee Zeldin, the agency is sunsetting the program, but will keep all its previous reports public, while adding a disclaimer that the system’s assessments may not be fit for purpose. The EPA has also directed offices to reevaluate the reliability of the system’s reports.
Former EPA staff with the climate activist group Environmental Protection Network have criticized the move, saying that retiring the program will make “it easier to second-guess the science between toxic chemical protections.”
“As we told ProPublica, it is 100% false to suggest that EPA’s memo puts ‘people at risk’ or allows anyone to ‘ignore a regulation, permit or enforcement action’—anyone who simply ignores a binding legal requirement is violating the law,” EPA spokeswoman Brigit Hirsch told The Daily Signal in a statement Friday.
She rejected the idea that the sunsetting of the program would give industry more control and increase health risks.
“That is the Left’s favorite fake news accusation to throw at EPA, and it’s lazy nonsense,” Hirsch said.