EPA Under Scrutiny: Downgrading Cancer Risk Assessments Raises Alarms for Public Health
For decades, the Environmental protection Agency (EPA) has relied on rigorous scientific methods to assess the risks posed by toxic chemicals, safeguarding public health through informed regulation. However, recent actions by the agency regarding formaldehyde - and signals pointing to broader shifts in how it evaluates cancer risks – are sparking serious concerns among scientists, public health advocates, and environmental watchdogs.A ProPublica investigation reveals a troubling trend: the EPA appears to be systematically lowering its estimates of cancer risk from key pollutants, possibly weakening vital protections and prioritizing industry interests over public safety.
Formaldehyde: A Case Study in Risk Reduction
The focus of this controversy is formaldehyde, a common chemical used in building materials, household products, and industrial processes. Lifetime exposure to formaldehyde through outdoor air has long been recognized as a cancer risk. Previously, the EPA’s goal was to limit air pollutants to a level resulting in no more than one incidence of cancer per million people. However, recent internal assessments paint a far more alarming picture.
Analysis shows that approximately 320 million Americans – nearly the entire population - reside in areas where the lifetime cancer risk from formaldehyde exposure is ten times higher than this established safety threshold. Even more concerning,the EPA’s official estimates,as of last year,placed the risk at twenty times the acceptable level.
But the agency’s internal calculations were even more stark. EPA scientists resolute that including the risk of myeloid leukemia,a particularly aggressive blood cancer linked to formaldehyde,would elevate the overall cancer risk to a staggering seventy-seven times the agency’s safety limit. This critical data point was reportedly excluded from the official assessment due to internal disagreements regarding its certainty – a decision that has drawn sharp criticism.
A shift towards “Threshold” Theory and Industry Influence
This isn’t an isolated incident. The EPA is moving towards embracing the controversial “threshold” theory of cancer risk. This theory posits that there’s a safe level of exposure to a carcinogen below which no cancer will develop. This contrasts with the long-held “linear” approach, which assumes that any exposure, no matter how small, carries some degree of risk.
Experts warn that adopting the threshold approach could have far-reaching consequences. “This will open the floodgates,” warns Tracey Woodruff, a former EPA scientist now at the University of California San francisco School of Medicine. “Chemical companies want every carcinogen to be considered a threshold carcinogen, which would allow them to say that their chemicals are safe when we know that is not true.”
This shift aligns with a clear agenda outlined in “Project 2025,” a blueprint for a potential second Trump governance. The document explicitly calls for reassessing the linear approach to cancer risk from both formaldehyde and radiation, and even advocates for the elimination of the EPA’s Integrated Risk Details System (IRIS).
The Sidelining of IRIS: A Critical Loss of Scientific Independence
IRIS is a crucial EPA program responsible for quantifying the health risks associated with various chemicals. Historically, risk assessments conducted under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) relied heavily on IRIS-calculated values. However, in a move unprecedented in agency history, the EPA recently rejected IRIS’s assessment of formaldehyde, opting for a substantially lower risk estimate.
This decision, coupled with a dramatic restructuring of the IRIS program – leaving only eight of 55 scientists still employed – raises serious questions about the agency’s commitment to autonomous scientific evaluation. Furthermore, the EPA has delayed the publication of a finalized assessment of PFNA, a “forever chemical” linked to serious health problems, despite its completion in April.
Broader Implications and Future Risks
The implications extend beyond formaldehyde. The EPA is currently evaluating the risks posed by other potentially carcinogenic chemicals, including 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,3-butadiene, used in plastics manufacturing. Crucially, once the EPA finalizes a rule based on these revised assessments, states will be legally prohibited from enacting their own, potentially more protective, regulations.
The Trump administration’s executive order in May further underscores this trend, directing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider adopting new, less stringent radiation exposure limits. This coordinated effort to weaken cancer risk assessments across multiple agencies signals a fundamental shift in the EPA’s approach to protecting public health.
What’s Next? Public Comment and the Future of Environmental Regulation
The EPA is currently accepting public comments on its proposed changes to the formaldehyde assessment until February 2nd, 2025.This represents a critical prospect for concerned citizens, scientists, and advocacy groups to voice their opposition to
