The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering new guidance for risk analysts who conduct important human health assessments on behalf of the Agency. If you’ll recall, last December, George Mason University conducted a survey of toxicology experts and found widespread agreement on a need for the government to establish clearer policies and better methodology for […]
Tag Archives: IRIS
What you may have missed at the Society for Risk Analysis meeting
Improving EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and how to better accommodate diverse types of evidence to evaluate associations and causation were the focus of discussions before standing-room-only crowds at the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) annual meeting in Baltimore earlier this month. But it’s important not to overlook two other sessions that took place […]
Why do federal chemical risk assessments need a ‘reality check’? Dr. Michael Honeycutt explains
The federal government manages several programs that are charged with assessing the risk of potential adverse effects of exposures to chemicals. There has been much discussion about the scientific integrity of these programs and their ability to deliver timely and credible results to help guide decision makers. An upcoming panel at the Society for Risk […]
2013 Society for Risk Analysis annual meeting to feature formaldehyde symposium
This year’s Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting (Dec. 8-11 in Baltimore) includes a symposium on integrating the science on formaldehyde, in hopes of better understanding the potential for formaldehyde carcinogenicity, as well as providing high quality information to help inform public health (including regulatory) decisions for compounds like formaldehyde that present complex challenges. […]
Recently finalized methanol assessment begs the question: Will science ever drive assessments?
Just a few short weeks after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its revised draft methanol assessment under the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the Agency quickly issued a finalized assessment. While everyone agrees that the Agency needs to complete assessments in a timely manner, the release of the final assessment so quickly after […]
EPA makes strides to collect input, but needs to broaden its scope to really improve IRIS
ACC is encouraged that the U.S. EPA has sought opportunities to get more input to improve the way the Agency conducts chemical risk assessments. Public workshops are one proven approach to collect input that has been employed by the scientific community for years. And it’s good to see that EPA is making more use of […]
Public input is critical to successfully move forward on IRIS reform
Sound science and transparency should be at the core of how the federal government evaluates the safety of chemicals — and they are critical elements to successfully reforming the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). We strongly believe that the implementation of key enhancements to IRIS will greatly improve the program […]
Strengthening IRIS will lead to more informed decisions about the safety of chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted a public stakeholder meeting last month regarding steps to improve the Agency’s primary chemical safety assessment program, known as the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which acts as a leading source of health risk information for other federal, state and international regulatory bodies. “The best way to deal […]
Once again, the NYT fails to follow the science
The New York Times’ latest diatribe against formaldehyde brings to light an important consequence of flawed chemical assessments: what the federal government gets wrong, the media perpetuates, leaving consumers with more questions than answers about the safety of everyday chemicals. Don’t miss: Forbes science contributor Emily Willingham helps set the record straight on formaldehyde. Independent […]
New report could improve the scientific foundation for regulatory decisions
A new report by the Research Integrity Roundtable, designed to improve the scientific analysis and independent expert reviews underpinning many important regulatory decisions, could lead to science-based improvements to EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and other critical assessment programs. A product of 18 months of stakeholder dialogues between scientists and policy experts from industry, […]
