The Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft risk assessment recently that has public health advocates sounding the alarm, The Guardian reported on Sunday.
“The political people at the EPA changed the science to get the outcome they want,” said Maria Doa, the senior director of chemicals policy at the Environmental Defense Fund and former EPA scientist, speaking with The Guardian. “This isn’t the first time. They’ve been doing that pretty consistently under Trump.”
According to the assessment, EPA officials found that TBBPA — a highly toxic flame retardant used to reduce the flammability of plastics and other consumer products — was "unlikely to be used in fabrics and textiles.” Furthermore, the assessment included language that advocates described as an attempt to “downplay the risks” of the “highly toxic and profitable chemical.”
And yet, despite the EPA’s claims in its assessment — which “will be used to set regulations” for TBBPA — advocates say the agency came to its conclusions using data from industries poised to profit from loosened regulations around the toxic flame retardant.
In some cases, the EPA’s claims — notably that TBBPA is “unlikely” to be used in clothing and textiles — were outright false, argued the nonprofit organization Earthjustice.
“There’s a lot of underestimation of the risk, and they’re ignoring different exposure pathways… and we’re definitely seeing them cite industry sources,” said Lakendra Barajas, a senior attorney for Earthjustice, speaking with The Guardian.
The EPA itself also "contradicted" its own findings, with a separate assessment finding that "TBBPA is still widely used in textiles, including 96 types of children’s clothing," The Guardian noted.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has labeled TBBPA a probable carcinogen, and further studies have linked the chemical to “hormone disruption, brain damage, immune system toxicity and developmental harms in children, including to the reproductive and nervous systems,” The Guardian’s report reads. The chemical, The Guardian notes, is “especially” dangerous to “small children.”
“Small molecule TBBPA, as used in plastics and in consumer products, should be restricted,” said Arlene Blum, an environmental health scientist and author, speaking with The Guardian. “It can get into humans and contribute to cancer and behavioral harm. Infants and toddlers who crawl in the dust and put their hands in their mouths are especially vulnerable.”