[Pharmwaste] Government UNDERsight?

[Pete Pasterz]

This is taken from a mailing from Environmental Working Group.   No wonder we just can't get traction on this issue...
 

Government consultant gets the pink slip


Last Friday, in response to an EWG investigation <http://webmail.mgoblue.com/FOLDERS/EXT/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democracyinaction.org%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fkey%3D325935186%26url_num%3D1%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fewg.org%252Fissues%252Fbisphenola%252F20070403%252Findex.php> , the government fired a conflict-ridden industry consulting firm, Sciences International (SI). SI is no ordinary science-for-hire company. For the past eight years, SI was actually running the federal center that decides whether or not chemicals pose reproductive risks to people. At the same time, SI boasted of more than 50 chemical company clients, many of whom made the chemicals under scrutiny by the SI-controlled federal center.

After the L.A. Times publicized the EWG investigation <http://webmail.mgoblue.com/FOLDERS/EXT/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democracyinaction.org%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fkey%3D325935186%26url_num%3D2%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fewg.org%252Fissues%252Fbisphenola%252F20070403%252Findex.php>  on March 7th, powerful Congressional leaders like Representative Waxman and Senator Boxer demanded answers. Immediately, SI was suspended and a formal inquiry was launched. The result? A pink slip.

But sending SI home is only the first step toward safer chemical reviews. What's to keep the National Toxicology Program (NTP) from replacing one conflicted contractor with another? Certainly not a conflict of interest policy——because they don't have one.

EWG will continue to push for a transparent process for exposing and dealing with government and corporate conflicts of interest. We are also demanding a full review of the 19 other chemicals Sciences International has analyzed for the government since 1998. Read about it in the Washington Post. <http://webmail.mgoblue.com/FOLDERS/EXT/?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.democracyinaction.org%2Fdia%2Ftrack.jsp%3Fkey%3D325935186%26url_num%3D3%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.ewg.org%252Fnews%252Fstory.php%253Fid%253D5933> 

We appreciate your support of the EWG team that makes these victories happen.

Sincerely,

Richard Wiles
Executive Director

 
* 
Pete Pasterz
Cabarrus County Recycling/HHW
Concord, NC
(704) 920-3280
papasterz at cabarruscounty.us
 
DISCLAIMER:
E-mail correspondence to and from this address may be subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
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