EPA’s New Chemical Division is continuing to face problems. Scientists working for the program claim managers are preventing adequate safety assessments of new chemicals.
The accusations claim managers are preventing assessors from communicating with other specialists in order to have the assessments completed within 90 days. The employees that did reach out to others for confirmation of their work or advice faced reprimands.
“Specialists can most easily fill in knowledge gaps by consulting with other specialists who have the requisite expertise. This is particularly important for less experienced employees. Forbidding consultation is an abusive practice which compromises the scientific integrity of chemical assessments, [preventing] accurate hazard information from being completely reflected, to the ultimate detriment of worker and public safety.” – Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of PEER
