Top Official Doubts Call To Address Scientific Controversies In IRIS Analyses

摘要

The new chief of EPA's influential risk analysis program is downplaying calls from some agency science advisers to acknowledge scientific controversies around substances' hazards in its assessments, saying doing so would bring more criticism on the program due to its heated political position. But Tina Bahadori, the new director of EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), which oversees the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), told the advisers Sept. 28 that she personally agrees that IRIS assessments could better describe all arguments pertaining to scientific controversies and she would be willing to do so if it would not encourage additional attacks on the program.