EDF Health

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals Initiative, and Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities What Happened: The Ohio Department of Health published an interactive map showing almost 1,200 properties whose owners have refused to comply with an order to correct known lead-based paint hazards. As a result, the Department has declared these properties are unsafe to […]

The post Mapping Lead: Ohio issues map of properties with known lead hazards first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals Initiative and Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities What Happened: The State of New Jersey published an interactive map showing potential sources of lead exposure for any given address in the state. Currently, the map specifically looks at lead-based paint in housing, though the State has plans to expand this […]

The post Mapping Lead: New Jersey State map as a backbone for real progress on lead first appeared on EDF Health.

Lindsay McCormick, Senior Manager, Safer Chemicals, Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals and Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities What Happened? Earlier this month, EPA announced an updated formula it will use to allocate federal funds for lead service line (LSL) replacements. This new formula will be based on each state’s expected needs, as determined by a […]

The post Lead Pipe Replacement: EPA changes state shares of funding first appeared on EDF Health.

Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy The Good News Using its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act, EPA proposed a rule that would require companies to notify the agency before they produce or import a PFAS “forever chemical” that has not been used commercially since 2006. These notifications are crucial because resuming production […]

The post PFAS: EPA’s proposed notification requirements are a positive step, but exemptions will cause harm first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals, and Maricel Maffini, consultant What Happened? Today, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) finalized its Re-evaluation of the Risks to Public Health Related to the Presence of Bisphenol A (BPA) in Foodstuffs report. After considering public comments on its November 2021 draft, the agency reaffirmed its conclusion that Europeans […]

The post European Food Safety Authority reaffirms that BPA uses for food are not safe. Where is FDA? first appeared on EDF Health.

What’s National Teflon Day? According to National Day Calendar, yesterday (April 6th) was “National Teflon Day”—a day to “celebrate” the accidental discovery in 1938 of a chemical called polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE for short)—better known by the product it became associated with, Teflon™. Teflon™ is PFAS Wrapped in a Bow PTFE, the main component of Teflon™, is […]

The post National Teflon Day—Seriously?! first appeared on EDF Health.

What’s New? Yesterday, (March 27), EDF—together with the National Wildlife Federation—filed a “friend of the court” brief in the case of Vinyl Institute v. EPA. We expressed our support for EPA’s authority to order companies to 1) Conduct health and safety studies for their chemicals and 2) Turn over those test data to EPA when the agency […]

The post Carts Before Horses: Vinyl Institute Calls For EPA To Evaluate Risk Without Data first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals Initiative and Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities What Happened: The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) published notices on January 18 and January 30 indicating that Providence Water would need to stop partial replacement of lead service lines (LSLs) when the work is funded by the State Revolving Fund (SRF) program. […]

The post Rhode Island expects LSL replacements to be ‘simultaneous and complete’ when funded by SRF first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Maricel Maffini, consultant What Happened? FDA finalized a long awaited guidance for industry in December to help reduce conflicts of interest and bias when a chemical manufacturer chooses to convene an expert panel to assess whether a new chemical additive is generally recognized as safe (GRAS). Why It Matters: […]

The post Broken GRAS: FDA’s half-step to limit bias and conflicts of interest in GRAS determinations may backfire first appeared on EDF Health.

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy, and Lauren Ellis, MPH, Research Analyst What Happened:  We recently expressed concern to EPA about its conclusion that “distribution in commerce” (including the transportation of chemicals) does not contribute to the unreasonable risk for any of the first 10 chemicals evaluated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).  In […]

The post TSCA And The East Palestine Ohio Train Derailment Are Related–Here’s How first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals What Happened: FDA recently released draft action levels for lead in foods intended for babies and young toddlers.1 Action levels represent the point above which FDA is likely to regard food as adulterated – essentially unsafe – and seek a recall. This is a key step in implementing FDA’s […]

The post Unleading Baby Food: FDA’s proposed limits are a positive step, but… first appeared on EDF Health.

What’s New? Today we’re launching a new digital channel for the die-hard science and policy wonks in our midst! Deep Dives is a new, long-form blog site that will offer readers in-depth scientific analyses, hard data, and practical policy prescriptions from our top environmental health experts. The authors are Environmental Defense Fund experts in air […]

The post Introducing Deep Dives—EDF’s New Platform for In-Depth Scientific & Policy Analyses on Environmental Health first appeared on EDF Health.

What’s Happening? EPA’s current safety assessments of new chemicals proposed for market entry often fall short of effectively protecting all members of the public from risk because they don’t consider that we may be exposed to closely related chemicals that cause similar harms. Recent Example: EPA proposed rules requiring notification of significant new uses for […]

The post EPA Should Address Cumulative Risks from New Chemicals first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals and Lindsay McCormick, Senior Manager, Safer Chemicals What’s New: After an extensive review process, EPA approved Denver Water’s request to extend the variance to allow the utility to administer their Lead Reduction Program for the full 15-year term. EPA touts Denver Water’s Lead Reduction Program as an “innovative and […]

The post Denver Water proves its Lead Reduction Program is a national model first appeared on EDF Health.

Roya Alkafaji, Manager, Healthy Communities and Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals Initiative We have all come to expect access to information at our fingertips. To meet this demand, water utilities are increasingly posting interactive maps online to help residents identify whether their homes are connected to lead service lines (LSLs).[1] These are the pipes […]

The post Mapping Lead Pipes: Powerful tool helps communities find underground hazards first appeared on EDF Health.

By Maria Doa, PhD, Senior Director, Chemicals Policy What’s the Issue? EPA grants exemptions from full safety reviews for approximately half the new chemicals submitted by the chemical industry. Once those exemptions are granted, EPA very rarely revises or revokes them—even in the face of new information. The Toxic Substances Control Act allows EPA to […]

The post Toxic Chemicals: Regulatory exemptions prioritize industry wants over safety needs first appeared on EDF Health.

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals What’s New: EPA announced it has awarded $1.16 billion to the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs in 21 states, the District of Columbia, and three territories to support lead service line (LSL) replacement projects. In order to secure funding, these states developed and submitted Intended Use Plans (IUPs), which […]

The post EPA greenlights 21 states’ SRF plans to fund LSL replacement projects first appeared on EDF Health.

Guest post from Mason Hines, Mediator with RESOLVE and Facilitator for the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative.  See the original post here. For over six years, RESOLVE has convened the Lead Service Line Replacement Collaborative, a joint effort of 28 national public health, water utility, environmental, labor, consumer, housing, and state and local governmental organizations to […]

The post The LSLR Collaborative’s new guide helps communities design equitable lead service line replacement programs first appeared on EDF Health.

Maricel Maffini, consultant, and Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director Scientists and regulators have known for decades that certain chemicals disrupt the actions of male hormones—identified collectively as androgens—in the body. Because of their effects, these chemicals are called anti-androgens or anti-androgenic chemicals. During gestation, fetal testes begin producing testosterone, the critical hormone required to develop […]

The post Anti-androgenic chemicals as a class of related substances with cumulative toxicological effects first appeared on EDF Health.

By Lauren Ellis, MPH, Research Analyst, Environmental Health and Samantha Liskow, Lead Counsel, Health NOTE: In a recent blog post, EDF called for EPA to revoke PFAS approved through the agency’s “low volume exemption” (an LVE is an exemption from a full safety review for new chemicals produced in quantities less than ~10 tons) and […]

The post The Case of the Missing PFAS first appeared on EDF Health.