EPA Chemical Health Hazards Program Has 55-Year Backlog: Report

"Eighteen months after the Environmental Protection Agency announced reforms to its controversial process for evaluating health hazards posed by dangerous chemicals, significant problems continue to hamper the program and leave the public at risk, according to a new report by a nonprofit research group.

The agency has fallen years behind in meeting its statutory requirements to profile at least 255 chemicals and assess their potential links to cancer, birth defects, and other health problems. That delay has effectively halted numerous regulatory actions that would protect the public, according to the report by the Center for Progressive Reform, a public health and environmental protection group. '[The Obama administration has] been so busy reacting to the right wing and fighting off crisis after crisis that it's been difficult for them to see this pattern of regulatory failure,' said Rena Steinzor, president of the center and a University of Maryland law professor."

Chris Hamby reports for the Center for Public Integrity November 9, 2010.