9. CHEMICALS: EPA has 'sole authority' on endocrine testing -- OMB (11/18/2009)

Sara Goodman , E&E reporter

The Office of Management and Budget won't interfere with U.S. EPA decisions about the need for additional testing on chemicals suspected of damaging human reproductive systems, OMB Director Peter Orszag said this week.

Orszag assured the chairman of the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee that scientific review would remain independent from political deliberations.

"OMB does not question the scientific responsibilities and rigors put forward by the EPA," Orszag wrote Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.). "I share your belief that EPA must continue to have a robust endocrine testing program, and I reiterate that OMB fully supports the EPA's sole authority to make the scientific decisions related to this effort."

The letter responded to Markey's concerns about a directive issued by OMB after EPA requested additional information on 67 chemicals in the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program. OMB said EPA should "to the greatest extent possible" accept existing data to satisfy test requirements.

Environmental groups have expressed concern with this order, saying traditional toxicological tests are not designed to address a chemical's potential effects on hormonal systems and that the directive could undermine the endocrine program (E&ENews PM, Oct. 22).

EPA will have full authority to determine if those tests are effective or whether additional testing data is needed, Orszag said.

"In some previous administrations, OMB has at times been used by industry opponents to try and gut sound environmental regulations under the rubric of 'paperwork reduction,'" Markey said in a statement today. "I am encouraged by Director Orszag's statement that he recognizes the need to have a robust testing program to determine the nature of the risks that endocrine disrupting chemicals pose to human health."

Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform, said the letter sends a strong signal that OMB's regulatory review office head, Cass Sunstein, "came out on the right side" in promising to respect EPA's science.

"We're still upset with what they did, and they didn't change that, but the signal is very clear," Steinzor said.

That promise was reiterated yesterday at a House panel hearing, when Stephen Owens, assistant administrator at EPA's Office of Pollution, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, assured Markey that he is confident EPA will be able to obtain the data it needs to successfully fulfill program requirements. The endocrine program was created by the 1998 Food Quality Protection Act.