{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/concerned-with-public-health-threat-blumenthal-urges-epa-to-issue-final-risk-evaluation-of-formaldehyde", "Concerned with Public Health Threat, Blumenthal Urges EPA to Issue Final Risk Evaluation of Formaldehyde", "2024-12-17", "2024", "2024-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CT", "Richard Blumenthal", "B001277", "www.blumenthal.senate.gov", "blumenthal", "https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press", "scraper", "[WASHINGTON, D.C.] \u2013 U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan calling on the EPA to issue a strong, science-based final risk evaluation for formaldehyde, a chemical known to pose serious health risks including cancer. This evaluation would serve as a necessary step to begin work to mitigate the harms of formaldehyde under the Toxic Substances Control Act.\n\n\u201cFormaldehyde is a chemical found in everything from household products to pesticides to motor vehicle exhaust. It has long been known to cause adverse health impacts, including cancer,\u201d wrote Blumenthal. \u201cThe agency\u2019s own science is clear \u2013 formaldehyde is dangerous to human health. Therefore, the agency has an obligation to protect the public from the chemical by following their own science and precedent and concluding the risk is unreasonable.\u201d\n\nBlumenthal emphasized the importance of a strong risk evaluation to protecting the health of Americans, writing, \u201cThroughout your tenure, EPA has been steadfast in upholding its vital mission of protecting human health and the environment. I urge you to continue this commitment and issue a final risk evaluation for formaldehyde that is rooted in the best available science and is as strong as possible \u2013 a critical step toward future regulatory action to mitigate the known risks of the chemical.\u201d\n\nThe full text of the letter can be found here and below.\n\nDecember 16, 2024\n\nThe Honorable Michael S. Regan\n\nAdministrator\n\nEnvironmental Protection Agency\n\n1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW\n\nWashington, D.C. 20460\n\nDear Administrator Regan,\n\nI write with concern over the health risks associated with formaldehyde. As highlighted in a recent ProPublica investigation, this chemical is both damaging to human health and near ubiquitous across the country \u2013 a dangerous combination.[1] I urge the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a strong, science-based final risk evaluation for formaldehyde as soon as possible, a necessary step for the agency to begin work to mitigate its harms under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).\n\nFormaldehyde is a chemical found in everything from household products to pesticides to motor vehicle exhaust.[2] It has long been known to cause adverse health impacts, including cancer. Earlier this year, the agency released the results of the its 2020 Air Toxics Screening Assessment, which found that formaldehyde poses the greatest risk of cancer among all other air pollutants studied.[3] EPA also released a final Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) review, which was over a decade in the making and peer reviewed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Through that rigorous process, the IRIS program established a cancer risk value for formaldehyde \u2013 it is imperative that the agency stand behind this scientifically robust data point in its final risk evaluation.[4]\n\nUnder TSCA, EPA is required to evaluate the risks of chemicals and, if a chemical is found to pose an \u201cunreasonable risk,\u201d the agency must eliminate that risk.[5] While what constitutes an \u201cunreasonable risk\u201d is not defined in statute, the agency has longstanding precedents to help make such a determination. The agency\u2019s benchmark for cancer risk to residents of fenceline communities and others in the general population is 1 in 1 million \u2013 if a chemical is shown to cause cancer in more than one out of every million people, EPA has previously found that to constitute an unreasonable risk. In the case of formaldehyde, EPA\u2019s draft evaluation found cancer risks to the general population from formaldehyde air pollution exceeding this benchmark for most uses of the chemical that are subject to direct regulation under TSCA.[6] Unfortunately, EPA did not take the next logical step and determine that those risks are unreasonable. The agency\u2019s own science is clear \u2013 formaldehyde is dangerous to human health. Therefore, the agency has an obligation to protect the public from the chemical by following their own science and precedent and concluding the risk is unreasonable.\n\nThroughout your tenure, EPA has been steadfast in upholding its vital mission of protecting human health and the environment. I urge you to continue this commitment and issue a final risk evaluation for formaldehyde that is rooted in the best available science and is as strong as possible \u2013 a critical step toward future regulatory action to mitigate the known risks of the chemical.\n\nThank you for your attention to this important matter.\n\nSincerely,\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/concerned-with-public-health-threat-blumenthal-urges-epa-to-issue-final-risk-evaluation-of-formaldehyde"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7478009685873985, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}