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Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Part 1 of a 4-part series – see Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 here It wasn’t that long ago, June 2016, when there was hope that our nation was at last embarking on the enormous task of reinvigorating and greatly strengthening our chemical safety system, 40 years …

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Today the Environmental Protection Agency announced it is conducting a thorough review of its policies and procedures for assessing the safety of new chemicals prior to allowing their entry into commerce. EPA’s announcement flags two immediate changes it is making to restore and realign the program’s practices with …

This post originally appeared on EDF+Business.  Alissa Sasso, Project Manager, EDF+Business. Anyone who’s recently purchased a personal care item knows how overwhelming the experience can be. From price and aesthetics to brands, there are many factors to consider. Now add the safety and impact of the ingredients, whether or not it’s  “clean”, and the decision becomes …

Joanna Slaney, Legislative Director, and Sam Lovell, Project Manager. As Congress looks to various infrastructure priorities in the coming months to get the country back on track, funding replacement of lead pipes should be an essential part of that effort. Recent polling from Black Millennials for Flint, BlueGreen Alliance and EDF demonstrates that there is …

EDF's Clean Beauty Roadmap for Retailers gives brands the ground rules for executing a responsible and credible clean beauty program, with a focus on ingredient safety.

Introduced by Krishnamoorthi, Cárdenas, Klobuchar, and Duckworth, the bill has a framework to drive down lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in baby food.

Companies are vastly behind in making progress on sustainability according the Business of Fashion's Sustainability Index.

Reports indicate that the Environmental Protection Agency will be moving forward the long-delayed assessment of formaldehyde by the agency’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. You know how sometimes you know something is going on behind closed doors, but you just can’t prove it?  Well, this isn’t one of those cases. At numerous points in recent years, we heard tell of secret meetings that Trump EPA political appointees were holding with the chemical …

A new poll released today by Black Millennials for Flint, BlueGreen Alliance, and Environmental Defense Fund reveals voters strongly support funding the replacement of lead pipes in water systems across the country.

Sam Lovell, Project Manager. Across the country, over 9 million homes still get their water through a lead pipe, called a lead service line (LSL). Fully replacing LSLs poses a myriad of challenges – cost chief amongst them – but replacement is critical to protecting the public from the harms posed by lead exposure. It …

Earlier this month, McDonald’s became the latest major food company to announce a commitment to remove all added fluorinated chemicals from its food packaging that is served to customers. As the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain, McDonald’s new global commitment is a vital step towards improving food safety and protecting consumer health. McDonald’s announcement …

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. In recent weeks EPA has issued for public comment significant modifications to its draft risk evaluations under the Toxic Substances Control Act for two chemicals:  Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) and 1,4-dioxane.  Because EPA initially provided relatively brief comment periods on the modifications, both were subject to requests for …

Richard Denison, Ph.D., is a Lead Senior Scientist. Yesterday EDF submitted comments on a supplement to EPA’s 1,4-dioxane risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which the agency issued a scant three weeks ago. This solvent is a likely human carcinogen that contaminates drinking water nationwide and is present in millions of consumer products.

Tom Neltner, J.D., is Chemicals Policy Director. In January 2017, the outgoing Obama Administration undertook a criminal investigation of Home Depot for alleged violations of the Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a proposed civil consent decree with Home Depot committing the company to establishing a comprehensive …

Tom Neltner, J.D. is the Chemicals Policy Director. In October 2019, we reported finding canned foods had a surprising number of samples with lead based on the Food and Drug Administration’s testing results. Almost half of the 242 samples had detectable lead, including a staggering 98% of 70 canned fruit samples. We suspect that the …

Tom Neltner, J.D. is the Chemicals Policy Director. Many people may not be aware that lead is still added to brass and bronze used to make drinking water faucets and food equipment like coffee brewers and more. This is problematic because lead can leach into the water and beverages from the equipment – putting consumers …

Tom Neltner, J.D. is the Chemicals Policy Director This is the first in a series of blogs evaluating various aspects of EPA’s December 2020 revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and what they may mean for accelerating lead service line (LSL) replacements. The blogs cover: 1) the new service line inventory; 2) three …

Decision epitomizes administration’s disdain for public health protection (Washington, DC – January 14, 2021) Tomorrow, the Trump EPA will announce the formal withdrawal of proposed bans on high-risk uses of the dangerous chemicals methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, and N-methylpyrrolidone. By taking this action, the Trump EPA seeks to prevent the new administration from finalizing any of these bans without …

Tom Neltner, J.D. is the Chemicals Policy Director This is the second in a series of blogs evaluating various aspects of EPA’s December 2020 revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and what they may mean for accelerating lead service line (LSL) replacements. The blogs cover: 1) new service line inventory; 2) three new …

LaTricea Adams credits her background as an educator with motivating and shaping her community advocacy work. For five years, Adams taught Spanish to middle and high school students in Nashville, Tennessee. Now, she’s the Founder Chief Executive Officer and President of Black Millennials for Flint (BM4F) – a grassroots, environmental justice and civil rights organization …

Tom Neltner, J.D. is the Chemicals Policy Director. Last week, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy released an important report summarizing baby food testing data submitted by four companies (Beech-Nut, Gerber, Happy Family, and Earth’s Best), finding that “baby foods are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead,

EPA indicates it will overhaul its systematic review method used in chemical risk evaluations

EDF's Boma Brown-West says companies need to take immediate and aggressive action to eliminate toxic heavy metals in baby food.

The Trump admin's Censored Science Rule was struck down by a lawsuit from EDF, the Montana Environmental Information Center, and Citizens for Clean Energy,