Catfish farmers, funeral home operators and miners — among a host of other industry groups — convinced the Environmental Protection Agency to kill its forty-year-old chemical regulation system.
EPA Deputy Administrator David Fatouhi issued a memo on April 27 ending the 1985 Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) method of classifying hazardous chemicals. Numerous stakeholders have criticized IRIS for dramatically overestimating the toxicity for certain industry-specific compounds to many business’ detriment.
IRIS was implemented via administrative action and has never been approved by Congress. IRIS toxicological assessments are far-reaching enough that over 80 disparate industry groups signed on to an American Chemistry Council (ACC)open letterto EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin in January 2025.
IRIS-generatedtoxicity valuesinclude carcinogen estimations and daily pollutant exposure considered safe for human life. EPA program offices nationwide have used these metrics to establish climate superfund cleanup standards, air quality rules, and inform chemical risk evaluations under the Toxic Controlled Substances Act. Climate superfunds arestate legislative initiativesthat force fossil fuels companies to pay damages for supposed climate change harms.
“While the IRIS program was designed originally to promote consistency, the development of a risk assessment often includes science policy judgments – many of which are informed by statutory and regulatory authority and objectives,” Fatouhi’s memo reads. “Over the years, it has become more clear that having a single program within one office at EPA make these judgments for all hazard and dose-response assessments for all of EPA is not optimal for developing fit-for-purpose risk assessments tailored to meet specific legal, statutory, and regulatory obligations.”
The Deputy Administrator’s letter also notes that “the IRIS toxicity value for ethylene oxide (EtO), a chemical critical for medical equipment sterilization, has been criticized because it was at least 10,000 times lower than levels naturally occurring in the human body.”
Rather than using IRIS to issue hazard classifications for virtually every chemical, the EPA will devolve this responsibility to particular program offices. EPA program offices are specialized departments that exist to implement particular laws like the Atomic Energy Act and Clean Air Act.
Industry stakeholders responded positively to Fatouhi’s memo.
“Formaldehyde is a critical chemical used by funeral directors across America. Funeral directors are taught in mortuary school how to safely use formaldehyde,” National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) Senior Vice President Lesley Witter told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our members have been concerned about access to this critical tool due to regulations based on a flawed IRIS value for formaldehyde. We’re happy to see EPA moving away relying on unrealistic IRIS assessments and relying on high-quality Gold Standard science moving forward.”
The NFDA was one of the signatories of the ACC’s January letter, along with groups such as the Catfish Farmers of America and the National Mining Association.
Source: VidNews » Feed
