The Trump administration’s move to gut EPA science programs could let polluting industries rewrite the rules on cancer-causing chemicals, writes Jennifer Sass for Scientific American.
In short:
- The Trump administration plans to eliminate the EPA’s independent research office, removing over 1,000 scientists whose work underpins clean air, water, and chemical safety laws.
- With industry lobbyists rewriting the rules and public science on the chopping block, environmental protections will increasingly rely on biased, polluter-funded research.
- Texas provides a cautionary tale: After EPA scientists found a strong link between ethylene oxide and breast cancer, Texas regulators pushed a weaker, industry-sponsored report that would allow thousands of times more pollution.
Key quote:
“Eliminating scientists from the EPA is kneecapping environmental safeguards. Every major environmental statute — the Clean Air Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Superfund law governing cleanup requirements — relies on EPA scientists to calculate how hazardous chemicals are, how people and wildlife may be exposed and what health and ecological harms may occur.”
— Jennifer Sass, senior scientist, Natural Resources Defense Council
Why this matters:
If successful, this move would give polluting industries a bigger voice in writing the rules, while pushing the people who actually study cancer risk and chemical safety out of the room. When science is sidelined, health risks skyrocket. If polluters get to define what’s “safe,” communities face higher chances of cancer, asthma, and long-term illness. Without that science, the system tilts even further in favor of corporations, while people are left breathing the consequences.
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