EDF Health

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director The Cincinnati City Council has voted unanimously to authorize Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) to pay 100% of the cost of replacing private lead service lines (LSLs) that bring drinking water to customers’ homes and other buildings. The Council’s December vote supports its larger strategy to “provide quality healthy housing […]

Jennifer Ortega, Research Analyst, Environmental Health This past Wednesday, Rhode Island’s Childhood Lead Action Project (CLAP) led a coalition of groups in submitting a civil rights complaint to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against the Providence Water Supply Board (Providence Water), pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The administrative complaint highlights the discriminatory […]

Lauren Ellis, Research Analyst, Environmental Health  We recently submitted comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a subset of proposed Significant New Use Rules (SNURs) published by the New Chemicals program under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). We commend EPA for issuing these proposed SNURs. Our review of some of the SNURs, however, raised concerns about chemical releases to the environment, risks to consumers, […]

Maricel Maffini, consultant and Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director This blog is the third in our Broken GRAS series where we explore how the Food and Drug Administration’s Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) voluntary notification system for novel chemicals added to food works in practice and why it is broken. In this blog, we examine […]

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Lindsay McCormick, Program Manager  Dr. Karen Baehler and her team at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy, with support from EDF, recently published a peer-reviewed case study highlighting the environmental justice issues that arise when water utilities require property owners to pay when they replace lead service lines (LSLs) that connect […]

Maricel Maffini, consultant, and Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director A federal district court this fall ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the authority to allow food companies to make Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) safety determinations for novel chemicals added to food without notifying the agency. The decision followed a lawsuit by […]

Tom Neltner, Senior Director, Safer Chemicals EDF this week submitted comments to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), applauding the agency’s recent activities related to its Closer to Zero Action Plan for reducing toxic elements in children’s food and outlining specific steps to strengthen the FDA’s action. The agency’s November 18 public meeting on the […]

Ugbaad Ali, Community Environmental Health Tom Graff Fellow We all deserve to live in a healthy and vibrant community, yet many residents of Flint, Michigan, are overburdened by a lifetime of toxic exposures and environmental injustice. Recently, a coalition of environmental justice groups and community organizers in Flint used their combined power to organize against […]

Jennifer McPartland, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist, and Lariah Edwards, Ph.D., is an EDF-George Washington University Postdoctoral Fellow EPA Administrator Michael Regan recently completed a five-day “journey to justice” tour, highlighting communities across three US states that have been adversely affected by decades of chemical and air pollution. EPA’s focus on protecting those whose health is […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to withdraw two answers to frequently asked questions about the responsibilities of property management companies (PMCs) to comply with the agency’s Lead-Based Paint Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule (RRP). EDF applauds the agency’s action, which is consistent with the intent of the rule. The agency’s Federal Register notice explaining […]

Community activist Lilly Marcelin has dedicated her career to addressing racial and social inequities. In 2012, she founded and is now the Executive Director of the Boston-based organization, Resilient Sisterhood Project (RSP). The organization’s mission is to educate and empower women of African descent about common, but rarely discussed, diseases of the reproductive system that […]

This blog is adapted from an Op-Ed originally published by Environmental Health News on Nov. 23 and is authored by Lauren Ellis, Research Analyst and Maricel Maffini, consultant. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of highly persistent chemicals used in hundreds of products. Many PFAS are toxic and have been detected in the […]

Lauren Ellis, Research Analyst, Environmental Health Earlier this week, EDF submitted comments to EPA on the agency’s draft scope for the manufacturer-requested risk evaluation of D4 under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This is EPA’s first draft scope under the Biden Administration – providing an opportunity to see where improvements have been made and […]

Lindsay McCormick, Program Manager This month, EDF published an article along with collaborators from Auburn University and Mississippi State University, based on a pilot we conducted in partnership with local organizations[1] to comprehensively test and remediate lead in water at 11 child care facilities in Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi and Ohio. The study found that while […]

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director On October 7, FDA announced that it is reinstating its ban on lead acetate as the active ingredient in hair dyes that hide grey hair when used regularly. In 1980, the agency approved the chemical for hair dyes. In response to a color additive petition from the Environmental Defense Fund […]

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. After nearly 35 years at EDF, I am retiring this week. While I have had the privilege of working on many things in my time at EDF, for the last 20+ years my main focus has been on the Toxic Substances Control Act: making the case for why […]

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Maricel Maffini, consultant Over the years, we have seen a disturbing approach being taken by some dietary supplement companies to circumvent the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) oversight. Their strategy undermines both dietary supplement safety and food safety. These companies are leveraging FDA’s decision to allow manufacturers to secretly […]

Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Maricel Maffini, consultant The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made no apparent progress to comply with the legal requirement that it consider the cumulative effect of chemicals in the diet that have similar health impacts when evaluating the safety of an additive. A year ago, on September 23, […]

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. [I delivered a shorter version of these comments at the September 22, 2021 webinar titled “Hair on Fire and Yes Packages! How the Biden Administration Can Reverse the Chemical Industry’s Undue Influence,” cosponsored by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), NH Safe Water Alliance, and EDF.  A recording […]

Chemicals in food continue to be a top food safety concern among consumers Tom Neltner, Chemicals Policy Director and Maricel Maffini, consultant The latest annual food industry survey demonstrates that U.S. consumers continue to have significant concerns about chemicals in food. Specifically, the survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) found: 29% of consumers […]