Resisting Industry, Activists Cite Policy Basis For Strict EPA Cr6 Risk Level

摘要

Environmentalists are pushing back against chemical industry efforts aimed at delaying and softening EPA's pending assessment of the risks posed by ingesting hexavalent chromium (Cr6), arguing that the agency is bound by its cancer risk assessment guidelines to push forward with a strict "linear" risk method that assumes no safe level of exposure. In an Oct. 3 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the activists also suggest the agency's pending assessment of Cr6 could be a test of Jackson's efforts so far to strengthen the agency's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program, which are already drawing criticism from industry and Republicans.