The EPA Must Rely on Proven Methods

Coauthored with California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Coming Clean, Earthjustice, The Farmworker Association of Florida, Environmental Defense Fund, Toxic-Free Future

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for assessing the human and environmental health risks of new chemicals and then regulating these chemicals to protect people and wildlife. We rely on the EPA to provide accurate toxicity tests, especially for people in jobs such as manufacturing or farming that require close contact with chemical compounds. 

In the last several years, pesticide and industrial chemical manufacturers have lobbied and worked closely with the EPA to develop new approach methodologies (NAMs) for estimating the hazards and risks of chemicals. These new NAMs, most of which are unproven, frequently understate or incorrectly evaluate hazard and risk, with potentially harmful consequences for workers, families, wildlife, and ecosystems.

If the EPA uses weak and unreliable toxicity test methods to approve chemicals, those suffering the greatest harm will be vulnerable populations: pregnant people, farmworkers, fenceline and frontline communities and other environmental justice populations—often communities of color that are underserved—who breathe, drink, and ingest toxic chemical pollution every day. 

Scientists and global policy experts agree that it would be a misuse of NAMs to employ the test results to further weaken risk estimates or reduce health protections. Instead, the need for toxicity tests could be reduced by promoting a safe and sustainable chemical industry that does not harm people, the environment, or the climate, consistent with the Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals.