JUNE 8, 2026
EPA Scientists Say Political Appointees Are Pressuring Them to Minimize Chemical Risk Findings
Current and former EPA scientists told CNN they are being pressured by supervisors to alter chemical safety reviews to reduce or eliminate findings of health risk for consumer products. The EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention is responsible for assessing chemicals under the 2016 update to the Toxic Substances Control Act. The EPA, in a statement to CNN, said it is pursuing "gold standard science" based on realistic exposure scenarios, and denied that assessments are being engineered toward predetermined outcomes.
Multiple current and former career employees at the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention told CNN they are being directed by supervisors to alter health risk assessments for chemicals found in everyday consumer products, including household cleaners and cosmetics. The employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity citing fear of retribution, described a pattern in which findings of potential risk prompt rapid internal meetings where scientists are pressed to revise their analysis before it is complete.
One employee described being asked to reconsider the amount of chemical exposure that counts as risky — for example, being asked whether dipping one finger rather than two hands into a chemical would still show risk. "We are considering scenarios we don't have any basis for," that employee said. A second career employee told CNN: "Basically, the moment you calculate risk, there's some sort of meeting and they push you to figure out how we can make the risk disappear."
Scientists also told CNN that analyses of how certain racial groups may be more susceptible to chemical harm — due to higher rates of underlying health conditions or genetic factors — have been removed from assessments, characterized internally as "DEI." Scientists dispute that characterization, describing such subpopulation analysis as a longstanding methodological practice. Michal Freedhoff, who led the EPA's chemical safety office under President Biden and helped negotiate the 2016 law update, told CNN the law explicitly requires risk assessments to account for susceptible subpopulations, and that ignoring it "could leave people less safe and create legal vulnerabilities for the agency."