EPA Study Reviews May Force Major Delays For Key Risk Assessments

摘要

EPA's recent decision to reconsider six risk assessments due to questions about data it used from a controversial Italian lab could pose major delays for those assessments, including assessments for widely used substances such as vinyl chloride and methanol, but is expected to have a limited impact on the agency's broader risk assessment program, observers say.rnEPA announced June 15 that its draft assessments of methanol, the fuel additives methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), and the plastic ingredient acrylonitrile, will be held pending EPA's further review of Ramazzini Institute studies used in the assessments. The agency says it is also "reviewing" its longstanding assessments of vinyl chloride and 1,1 dichloroethylene (DCE) "to determine what action is needed to assure their scientific integrity."