Policy News - December 8, 2004

Exposure study of household chemicals and kids

The U.S. EPA has put on hold a research project designed to define children’s exposure pathways to relatively ubiquitous household chemicals, such as phthalates, brominated flame retardants, and perfluorinated compounds. The Children’s Health Environmental Exposure Research Study (CHEERS) is a $7 million project funded partially by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), the lobbying group for the U.S. chemical industry.

The study design is undergoing “another external, independent review,” announced William Farland, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science in the Office of Research and Development, on November 9. The study design for CHEERS has already been externally reviewed for scientific merit and ethical protections, Farland wrote. But he added that the agency is taking “the extraordinary step” of sending the study for additional review because “recent news articles have mischaracterized the study.”

The review will be conducted by an expert panel made up of members of EPA’s Science Advisory Board and other groups that advise the agency on science matters. A report will be sent to EPA’s administrator in the spring of 2005, and then the study may be refined, Farland wrote.

The decision to re-review the study came shortly after an environmental advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, drew attention to the financial contribution by ACC. Several newspaper and magazine editorials then criticized EPA officials for accepting ACC funds, writing that the use of money from a lobbying group was a conflict of interest because the results could directly affect rules for chemical manufacturers. EPA scientists both in regional offices and at headquarters also complained in writing that the study, which includes monitoring home use of pesticides in exchange for families receiving cash and children’s clothing, could confuse parents and result in their continued use of pesticides at home.

The research is a collaborative effort with Florida’s Duval County Health Department and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It would follow 60 children, aged 3 and under, for 2 years. Families would keep records of their use of pesticides and household products, and children would be monitored in their homes, according to EPA. The agency’s National Exposure Research Laboratory would coordinate the project.

The ACC contribution comes to EPA under a federal program known as a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). EPA has accepted industry funds for research under CRADA for years as a way to “leverage its research dollars … [and] to take advantage of the scientific expertise of the partner organizations,” EPA Science Advisor Paul Gilman says.

ACC spokesperson Marcia Lawson says that the group provides funds to EPA for this project and others as part of its Long-Range Research Initiative to study the effects chemicals have on human health and the environment. All results will be made public, and ACC won’t review them before they are released, Lawson says.

CHEERS includes a focus on relating urinary levels of chemicals (or their breakdown products) to environmental concentrations of the chemicals. “Because almost all health guidelines relate to environmental concentrations, this type of research will provide the health perspective missing from many other studies of children,” ACC wrote in a newsletter to its members. —CATHERINE M. COONEY