More at the link.The Environmental Protection Agency has been trying since 1998 to update its official assessment of formaldehyde, which was first written in 1989 and describes the chemical as a “probable” rather than a “known” carcinogen, even though three major scientific reviews now link it to leukemia and strengthen its ties to other forms of cancer.
After the agency’s efforts were repeatedly stalled by the chemical industry and Congress, a new administration and a new EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, seemed close to finalizing the EPA’s assessment last summer — until Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) began raising objections on behalf of the formaldehyde industry.
Vitter argued that the reassessment was premature and put a hold on a key EPA official’s appointment. And two days before Christmas, he won what the industry declared was a victory. Jackson agreed to an outside review — this time by the National Academy of Sciences — and Vitter released his hold.
Democrats in Congress and public health watchdogs have criticized the academy in the past for being slanted toward industry because some of the scientists who serve on its review panels have written studies funded by the chemical companies whose products they are evaluating. An academy spokeswoman said it thoroughly vets its panelists and has strict financial conflict-of-interest rules.
After EPA made its decision, Betsy Natz, executive director of the Formaldehyde Council, the industry trade group, said in a news release that “overcoming the agency’s intransigence” and obtaining the academy review would have been impossible without Vitter’s “timely intervention.”
James Huff, associate director for chemical carcinogenesis at the National Institute for Environmental Health in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had his own interpretation of the council’s intentions. “Delay means money,” he said. “The longer they can delay labeling something a known carcinogen, the more money they can make.”
The effects of formaldehyde are not an abstract problem in Louisiana, where thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims claim they suffered respiratory problems after being housed in government trailers contaminated with the chemical. Vitter’s spokesman, Joel DiGrado, said last September that the need for “absolutely reliable information” about the risk from formaldehyde was the reason the senator wanted “to have the national academy of sciences weigh in.”
Vitter’s ties to the formaldehyde industry are well-known. According to the website Talking Points Memo, his election campaign received about $20,500 last year from companies that produce large amounts of formaldehyde waste in Louisiana. But ProPublica found that Vitter actually took in nearly twice that amount if contributions from other companies, trade groups and lobbyists with interests in formaldehyde regulation are included.
Now, I'll be the first to say I'm not overly fond of government regulations, but this is ridiculous. How is it that Republicans always manage to fight exactly the wrong battles in favor of whatever interests are paying them off? At least have a little discretion in who you accept bribes from, man.