Inspector General Says Voluntary Children's Chemical Safety Program Failed to Protect Children

As I noted back in December 2010, EPA's Inspector General's office had launched an inquiry into the Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) program because of complaints that it was ineffective.  The IG has now completed their report and the findings are not good.  In it's report released on July 21, 2011, the IG found that the VCCEP pilot program "did not achieve its goals to design a process to assess and report on the safety of chemicals to children."  Further, the IG found that the design of the VCCEP pilot itself was flawed, and "did not allow for desired outcomes to be produced."

Specific problems include "a flawed chemical selection process" and a "lack of an effective communication strategy."  The IG also specifically pointed at the lack of industry effort, "who chose not to voluntarily collect and submit information," as well as EPA's "decision not to exercise its regulatory authorities" under TSCA to "compel data collection."

The IG report recommends that EPA should design and implement a new process that:

• identifies the chemicals with highest potential risk to children
• applies the TSCA regulatory authorities as appropriate for data collection
• interprets results and disseminates information to the public, and 
• includes outcome measures that assure valid and timely results.

In a response from EPA included in the report, EPA concurred with the IG's findings and indicated that work was ongoing in the existing chemicals program in an attempt to address the IG's concerns. The IG wasn't necessarily satisfied with EPA's response, and stressed the importance of having a workable program to protect children from chemical exposure.

The full report from the EPA's Inspector General can be downloaded here.

Inspector General Inquires into EPA's Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program

The Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP), which advocacy groups had criticized for years as ineffective and a "stall" by industry, was halted by the Obama administration.  Now it seems EPA’s Inspector General (IG) has launched an inquiry into the program because EPA has indicated it intends to model other programs on VCCEP.  The IG says it will determine “whether there are alternative mechanisms for achieving children’s health protection goals from chemical exposure.”

VCCEP was a product of the 1998 Chemical Right to Know Initiative, "the goal of which was to give citizens information on the effects of chemicals to enable them to make wise choices in the home and marketplace."  VCCEP itself was launched in December of 2000, and for many years was a focal point for EPA to work with industry to assess the potential effects of 23 chemicals on children's health.  Of the 23, only 20 were actually sponsored, with the chemicals selected being some for which children had a high likelihood of exposure. The intent was to have companies that manufactured or imported these chemicals to volunteer to provide information on health effects, exposure, risk, and data needs. Thirty-five companies in 10 consortia responded.

Unfortunately, 10 years after it was initiated the program seems to have not gotten past its initial pilot program.  Like the voluntary High Production Volume Chemical Challenge, the voluntary nature of the program resulted in actual participation dropping off as soon as the program fell out of the public's field of view.

The goal of the IG review is to learn from this experience before EPA initiates a new effort to assess the effects of chemicals on children's health.  Given the slow movement of TSCA reform in Congress, and the change in power structure for the next two years leading into a presidential election, EPA and others are looking for ways to carry on their mandate to protect public health, especially that of children.

More information can be found on the VCCEP program web site.