American Chemical Council is now EPA's Lead Research Partner

Email this article to a friend

Printable Version

Articles Related to This Article: • EPA, American Chemistry Council Conspire to Remove Toxicologist Deborah Rice from Panel on Flame Retardant Safety • EPA may approve neurotoxic pesticide that harms children • EPA uses nanotech regulation ploy to target colloidal silver while ignoring all other nanotech particles Support NaturalNews advertisers - Advertise with NaturalNews Help support NaturalNews with health books and educational programs from Truth Publishing: • Swine Flu Advanced Preparedness • 8 Weeks to Vibrant Health • Raw In Ten Minutes (recipes) • How to Halt Diabetes in 25 Days ... and much more.

(NaturalNews) The American Chemical Council has become the number one research partner of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according to documents obtained by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

PEER warns that an increasing focus on partnering with industry is leading the EPA to neglect public health and safety in favor of carrying out research and development for corporations.

"Many of us in the labs feel like we work for contracts," one EPA scientist wrote to PEER.

PEER cites the increase in cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) between the EPA and industry in recent years, from 34 in Clinton's second term to 57 during Bush's first. Yet according to a 2005 review by the Government Accountability Office, the EPA lacks any safeguards to "evaluate or manage potential conflicts of interest" that arise from taking industry money.

"Injecting outside money into a public agency research program, especially when it is tied to particular projects, has a subtle but undeniable influence on not only what work gets done but also how that work is reported," warned PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch.

The effects of the EPA/industry partnership can already be seen in shifting agency priorities, PEER says. For example, a 2005 report by the EPA's own Science Advisory Board concluded that the agency no longer allocate funding to any credible public health research. The report also warned that the EPA is failing to properly investigate emerging threats such as intercontinental pollution and nanotechnology.

PEER says that long-term health monitoring studies and other such public health or environmental concerns have taken a back seat to research that addresses the regulatory concerns of industry.

In 2007, after extensive lobbying by the chemical industry, the EPA began its first human tests of pesticide tolerance, a practice that has come under intense fire from environmental and public health advocates for ethical reasons.

Get articles like this delivered to you FREE in our popular email newsletter

Related CounterThink Cartoons:

Related Articles: • EPA, American Chemistry Council Conspire to Remove Toxicologist Deborah Rice from Panel on Flame Retardant Safety • EPA may approve neurotoxic pesticide that harms children • EPA uses nanotech regulation ploy to target colloidal silver while ignoring all other nanotech particles	Take Action: Support NaturalNews.com Email this article to a friend Share this article on: NewsVine | digg | del.icio.us Permalink to this article: http://www.NaturalNews.com/023405_EPA_the_EPA_health.html Reprinting this article: Non-commercial use OK, cite NaturalNews.com with clickable link. Embed article link: (copy HTML code below): <a href = "http://www.NaturalNews.com/023405_EPA_the_EPA_health.html">American Chemical Council is now EPA's Lead Research Partner</a>