Policy Concentrates REGULATION
Michael Dourson tapped to lead EPA chemical program Michael Dourson, President Donald J. Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency’s office that oversees commercial chemicals and pesticides, is a board-certified toxicologist with decades of experience in risk assessment. Dourson’s close ties to the chemical industry, however, have some environmental groups raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Dourson is a professor in the Risk Science Center at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Before joining the university in 2015, he directed the Cincinnati-based nonprofit consulting firm Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), which he founded in 1995. Dourson also held several positions at EPA from 1980 to 1995. Well known in the toxicology community, Dourson has served on numerous U.S. government panels and toxicology journal editorial boards. He has also held multiple
positions for the American Board of Toxicology, Society of Toxicology, Society for Risk Analysis, and Toxicology Education Foundation. Dourson’s July 17 nomination, which requires confirmation by the Senate, drew praise from the chemical manufacturers trade group the American Chemistry Council. The group is urging the Senate to quickly confirm Dourson, noting that his nomination comes at a critical point in EPA’s implementation of the revised Toxic Substances Control Act. “His knowledge, experience, and leadership will strengthen EPA’s processes for evaluating and incorporating high-quality science into regulatory decision-making,” ACC says. In contrast, some environmental advocates say they are troubled by Dourson’s nomination, citing his extensive ties to the chemical industry and previous connec-
tions to big tobacco. Dourson “has a history of undertaking work, often with significant funding from industry, to undermine public health protections and the science underlying them,” claims Richard Denison, lead senior scientist with the activist group Environmental Defense Fund. For example, “Dourson and TERA have worked extensively for the Texas Department of Environmental Quality to undermine EPA air pollution regulations,” Denison says. While at TERA, Dourson also received funding from ACC to set up a website for children on chemical safety, Denison adds. Dourson is the author of a book series, “Evidence of Faith,” that aims to integrate science and religion. His “judicious integration of faith and the sciences has struck me as impressive as it is rare,” says the Rev. John Arthur Nunes, president of Concordia College-New York, a Lutheran school.—BRITT ERICKSON
POLLUTION
Tainted water focus of U.S. legislation House of Representatives bill would require study of health effects from drinking water exposure The Pentagon would have to study whether drinking water tainted with perfluorinated chemicals used in firefighting causes health problems under a bill the U.S. House of Representatives passed on July 14. The proposed 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R. 2810) includes provisions on perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), collectively known as perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). The chemicals persist in the environment indefinitely and have been linked to disease in people. The military in the 1970s began using aqueous film-forming foam containing PFOA and other perfluorinated compounds that can degrade to PFOA or PFOS. Scientists have recently linked
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 24, 2017
use of the foam at military installations to contamination of drinking water with PFASs. The Department of Defense is assessing its use of these substances and potential substitutes for them.
Congress wants the Pentagon to study possible health impacts from drinking water tainted with perfluorinated compounds from firefighting foams.
The bill would instruct the Pentagon to study the health of people who drank PFOS- or PFOA-contaminated water on or near current or former military installations. The measure brings up the possibility that the Environmental Protection Agency might cap the amount of PFASs allowed in drinking water. EPA set a nonbinding health advisory level for PFASs in drinking water at 70 ppt in May 2016 but has not set a legally enforceable limit for these substances. The bill would ask the Pentagon to consider whether setting an enforceable maximum would pose any significant challenges to the development of PFAS substitutes or the military’s cleanup of contamination. The Senate is working on its own version of the legislation (S. 1519), which is silent on PFASs.—ZACK COLEMAN, special
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C R E D I T: UN I V E RS I TY O F C IN C I N N AT I ( D O URS O N ) ; G R EG L. DAV I S / U. S . A I R FO RCE (F I R E F I G H T I N G )
Toxicologist’s nomination garners praise and concerns
