the FDA, which has been funding people down at Research Triangle Park to do pretty much traditional animal toxicological studies. Well, now we have the National Institute for Environmental Health & Safety (NIEHS), which a few years ago approved another $30 million to study exactly the same chemical, funding a completely different set of scientists, and using a completely different methodology to look at Bisphenol-A. So we have two agencies each funding separate work using separate methodologies exploring the potential health hazards from this compound, and with different agendas. The FDA’s interest, if anything, seems to be in finding that Bisphenol-A is not as risky as people think. The NIEHS, on the other hand, is trying to find out whether it’s really risky.
Another example of competing agencies involves EPA. We’ve got all this controversy over fracking. On the one hand, EPA is compiling a bunch of evidence on the various adverse effects of fracking, from contamination of groundwater to air pollution. The Department of Energy is doing its own separate thing, employing different methodologies but looking at a lot of the same questions, so now we have this problem with agencies competing.
Cannon: I don’t think diversity is a bad thing. EPA and NIEHS have had differing views about non-monotonic dose response in certain chemicals. These agencies have different interests or points of view that get reflected in different positions on the
science, at least initially. But that diversity of views can be helpful; it can force fruitful deliberation and further research. It’s also important to remember that much of the science that gets done relevant to policy is not done by federal agencies. It’s done by universities and companies. All of the data that EPA relies on in pesticides registration and toxic chemical review is industry-generated. You have a whole sea of data flowing on these different issues, and part of the challenge now, because the data is so huge, is systematically canvassing it and synthesizing it into some meaningful pattern that policy-makers can use.
Livermore: Just to return to the earlier point that Jason made about funding and
Jason Johnston
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