ACC Criticism Leads to Toxicologist's Removal from EPA Advisory Panel

ChemWeek's Business Daily
Published March 3, 2008

ACC last year asked that a scientist be removed from an agency advisory panel reviewing possible health effects of flame retardant deca brominated biphenyl ether (deca-BDE), a request EPA officials granted, according to documents posted on the Environmental Working Group's (EWG; Washington) Web site. In a May 3, 2007, letter to EPA's Assistant Administrator for Research and Development George Gray, ACC's vice president/products Sharon Kneiss objects to the appearance of impartiality of the panel's chairperson Deborah Rice, a toxicologist who at the time worked for the Maine Center of Disease Control and Prevention. "As reported in various media, the chairperson told stake lawmakers in Maine that 'there is no question in her mind that deca should be eliminated because it is a persistent toxin that accumulates in the food chain,'" Kneiss says. Rice also authored several articles that suggested deca-BDE causes adverse effects on the thyroid, Kneiss says. Rice then used those studies to back similar claims the advisory panels report without providing independent research to substantiate the claim, Kneiss says. Kneiss also says that Rice's stated public comments conflict with agency policy that requires that EPA consider whether potential peer reviewers have made public statements that would indicate that the reviewer has taken a position on an issue under consideration. Rice was dismissed in August, and all references previously made by Rice in the panel's review of deca-BDE have been removed, EWG says. EWG says Rice's removal reflects a tendency by EPA to stack advisory panels with scientists that have close ties to the chemical industry. EWG says that in a review of seven advisory panels established by EPA last year, EWG has identified "17 individuals who were employees of companies that make the chemicals under review, scientists whose work was funded by industries with a financial stake in the panel outcome, or scientists who have made over-reaching public statements about the safety of the chemical in question." Rice's removal was reported last week by the Los Angeles Times.