Sen. Whitehouse Questions EPA Assistant Administrator on the Public Health Risks of Toxic Chemicals - Sen. Whitehouse

[Rhiannon12866]

January 24 - Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asks questions of Michal Freedhoff, Ph.D., Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, in a hearing entitled, “Oversight of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Amendments Implementation.”

[orthoclad]

1. We use the wrong paradigm with toxics

We say "prove they're harmful" rather than "prove they're safe". So we don't act until massive damage has been proved.

This is statistically complicated by the difficulty in tracing one specific cause when toxins are ubiquitous. When people are exposed to a dozen carcinogens, which one do we blame?