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EPA Blocks Warnings on Cancer-Causing Chemical: Report (politico.com)
The Trump administration is suppressing an Environmental Protection Agency report that warns that most Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments, a current and a former agency official told POLITICO. The news outlet adds: The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency's independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals.
Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday, also has a history with the chemical. He was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment. Formaldehyde is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed to it through wood composites in cabinets and furniture, as well as air pollution from major refineries.
Andrew Wheeler, the No. 2 official at EPA who will be the agency's new acting chief as of Monday, also has a history with the chemical. He was staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2004, when his boss, then-Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), sought to delay an earlier iteration of the formaldehyde assessment. Formaldehyde is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed to it through wood composites in cabinets and furniture, as well as air pollution from major refineries.
OK, who here is snorting formaldehyde ?
It's in hair products apparently according to the article... so anyone who puts conditioner on their nose hair is at risk of snorting formaldehyde.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
OK, who here is snorting formaldehyde ?
Also... I don't snort it, but I use Glutaraldehyde, a similar chemical on a daily basis in my fish tanks. It acts as a carbon source for aquatic plants.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Breathing air is known to cause cancer in the state of California
I'd like to see more information about the claim that "Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia". For example, exactly how much risk are we talking about? Unfortunately, the article seems to be mostly about political conflict, with very little actual science being discussed.
Environmental Pollution Agency
Because Jesus and the bible.
Because Jesus and the bible.
Thank you Jesus!
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Haha! Jokes on them because I am bald... ... ... Oh. Now I'm sad.
Just lucky. I knew a very kind and successful man who got a scratch while golfing that wouldn't heal as his first symptom. A year later he had wasted away and died from leukemia. It was horrific. He had everything, and saw the best specialists money could buy, but that could not protect him from the disease.
Poorly worded, but as you probably know it gives you a "chance" there's people who smoke 3 packs a day and live to 100 years old without cancer too, others get cancer and die after only 3 years of smoking. Humans aren't binary
As far as diseases go, leukemia is a pretty rare one. Formaldehyde has been commonly used for decades.
What exactly is the risk? If the risk is 1 extra person out of 1 million get it that's not significant. If it is 1 out of 1000, we'd be seeing a lot more people with it. The fact that leukemia is so rare makes me think that this is probably a non-event.
I'm not pro any sitting President stopping scientific announcements, don't get me wrong. I don't approve of Trump's actions; but I think in this instance the warning is probably for something minor.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I've known several people with Leukemia. You wouldn't know them because they kind of drop out of life. Most of them die. Occasionally they go into remission but it's not like they all wear a big badge that says "Hi, I've got Leukemia!".
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But this has been debunked 8 ways from Sunday.
Funny thing is all these conspiracy theories and bad press for Hillary helped get us Trump. And I"ll say one thing about Trump, he doesn't have any conspiracy theories to speak of. His administration is so openly corrupt what would be the point? He's like Dick Cheney times a million. When you tell people how corrupt he is they don't believe you because if anyone was that openly corrupt somebody, somewhere would do _something_. Right?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
What exactly is the risk?
We might be able to find out if the corrupt weasels in the EPA would publish this research. But no.
The warnings are contained in a draft health assessment EPA scientists completed just before Donald Trump became president, according to the officials. They said top advisers to departing Administrator Scott Pruitt are delaying its release as part of a campaign to undermine the agency’s independent research into the health risks of toxic chemicals......The current EPA official told POLITICO that political appointees have managed to avoid creating written evidence of their interference with the formaldehyde assessment by refusing to send emails or create other records that eventually could become public, instead using what the official described as “a children’s game of telephone."
Interestingly, this research comes from the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).
Industry has long faulted the IRIS program, the agency’s only independent scientific division evaluating the health risks of toxic chemicals, whose assessments often form the basis for federal and state regulations.
Why would the chemical industries have issues with IRIS?
The small office of about 35 experts pores over the huge body of existing research on chemicals, including industry-backed studies aimed at proving the substances safe, to independently assess their risks.
Lol. So they actually dig into the industry backed studies and call BS on them. I can see why they'd be a threat.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Poorly worded, but as you probably know it gives you a "chance" there's people who smoke 3 packs a day and live to 100 years old without cancer too, others get cancer and die after only 3 years of smoking. Humans aren't binary
As far as diseases go, leukemia is a pretty rare one. Formaldehyde has been commonly used for decades.
What exactly is the risk? If the risk is 1 extra person out of 1 million get it that's not significant. If it is 1 out of 1000, we'd be seeing a lot more people with it. The fact that leukemia is so rare makes me think that this is probably a non-event.
I'm not pro any sitting President stopping scientific announcements, don't get me wrong. I don't approve of Trump's actions; but I think in this instance the warning is probably for something minor.
Too many announcements is itself bad. So yes, it matters very much how great the risk is.
We're already at the point where most people just throw up their hands and say "ok, I guess everything causes cancer."
Too many warnings, too low of a threshold, is not only not useful; it's harmful.
Really? You're telling me that alcoholic drinks aren't healthy? Who knew?
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
It's not the individual incidents like this that you should be focusing on, it's the overall trend towards an anti-science, anti-facts, anti-truth attitude, and towards 'faith-based', 'superstition', 'mysticism', and my favorite: 'Dominionism', expecting that The Earth is going to be destroyed soon anyway, Zombie Jesus will take The Faithful home to Heaven, and all the Heathen Masses will die anyway, so why should they care? Don't think for a second I'm even kidding, these people exist, they think the Earth is only 6000 years old, and that Science is from Satan and is all lies. These are also often the 'anti-vaxers', too, who think vaccinations is literally injecting The Devil into their kids veins -- because 'science is evil'.
If we're breathing in enough formaldehyde to get leukemia, why have I never met anyone with leukemia? Am I just lucky and I put out a lucky aura that protects those around me?
Because you play with yourself when no one is looking?
The length of time that Formaldehyed has been know as a carcinogen pre-dates the EPA. Regardless, I have a special cocktail for you. Foprmaldehyde and Benzene and Carbon Tetrachloride with a twist of lemon, followed by a fresh garden salad covered with berrylium and asbestos. It is good for you - there are no dangerous substances, all lefty lies.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
If most Americans got sick in that way, US pathologists and epidemiologist would have book chapters on that.
This is just like coal - Coal is actually good for you. This bullshit of leftists trying to besmirch the effects of chemicals is leading to the downfall of western civilization. Even CO2 is critical for health, and god fearing common sense Americans should breath a atmosphere of 100 percent CO2 for at least 5 hors everyt day. There are no substances that are bad for you. God would not put anything on earth that would harm his greatest creation.
Yours in Christ Jesus.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
After reading the article from Politico, I'm a bit concerned with not how the EPA is being implemented, but how easily it's leadership/direction is pointed. Only a few years ago with a different president, the EPA was going hard left in it's views. Now it seems to be going hard right. The EPA has a very long reach on every day Americans. Everyone will feel it in higher costs of good and services.
How can you take a long look at the environment/health issues changing so radically, what could be every 4 years? Truth usually resides somewhere in the middle.
(I'm not for the right or left, just what makes sense. It's funny to hear the same the "world is going to end" from one side when the other side is "in power")
Would [Trump] kill Americans to serve is foreign master?
Obama killed Americans without due process - what about it?
I mean - where was your outrage when your side was doing it?
To be fair here; I can't speak for AC but lots of people on both sides of the political spectrum have expressed outrage at the Drone Strikes. It's kind of a grey area though. He was never going to be captured to be put on trial- and did killing him save thousands of other lives? I don't know- and I don't know everything that military intelligence knew about it.
WITHIN the US the police have the right to use lethal force if they legitimately believe the perpetrator is threat to life of another human and don't have a non-lethal option to stop them. The military are presumably (hopefully) acting under the same guideline here.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
The chance that a person will develop leukemia at some point in his life is 0.1%. Survival rates are about 2/3, higher for younger people. This means its virtually certain you've met someone who is a leukemia survivor, they just don't wear a sign around their neck announcing the fact.
The rate of new cases in the general population is about 12 per 100,000 population per year -- about 1.2 hundredths of a percent. If you live in a small town and have a job that doesn't involve dealing with a lot of people, it *is* possible you've never met anyone with active leukemia. However, even if you had you wouldn't necessarily know; the don't wear a sign around their neck announcing the fact either.
Initial leukemia symptoms are flu-like; so if you've ever met someone who is fatigued and achy they *might* have had leukemia. Once they are sick enough that they *obviously* have cancer, they're out and about a lot less, spending more time at home or sick in the hospital, where you're less likely to encounter them.
I trust this explains how leukemia could exist without your necessarily having had personal experience with it.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I'm a programmer... I don't eat salad. Just pizza.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
I'm not impressed by anti-cancer hysteria therefore I am anti-science? I don't treat any random pronoucement from any random "authority" as the word of god, therefore I am anti-science.
YOU I think have no clue what that term really means.
Those of YOU treating the ALL parts of the scientific establishment as if they are the Pope, are the real anti-science crowd.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
The same to you. Science is not a body of facts that you treat like religious dogma. It's a method of asking tough questions and finding answers that may contradict your own preconceived bias and make you uncomfortable. What we know at any given point time is a "best guess" and is ALWAYS subject to revision or being completely turned on it's head.
This is what separates science from religion.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
> The rate of new cases in the general population is about 12 per 100,000 population per year
So... a bit like knowing a victim of gun violence.
The problem with attributing any singular cause to any cancer is that it is so poorly understood. Even when they think they have a handle on it and have identified a single gene, even have targeted therapies to deal with that gene, those therapies pretty much behave completely randomly within the patient population.
There's nothing like actually being a cancer patient to disabuse you of any notions that "the guys in the white robes" have any real clue what they are talking about.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Those are an extremely small minority of idiots with no power, I don't see the relevance.
Studies about health risks should probably be available through the NIH. The observed health risk of formaldehyde does not seem to have changed. My interpretation of the politico piece: EPA wants stricter rules for emission anyway, the industry doesn't.
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p...
Formaldehyde occurs naturally in animal tissues as a result of amino acid digestion. That is why exposure at very low levels is not considered a concern. Exposure at higher levels are mainly a concern for the respiratory tract, e.g. nasopharyngeal cancer.
There's also evidence from both cohort and case control studies linking high chronic exposure to certain forms of leukemia. Although the exact mechanism isn't understood, the statistical evidence is quite strong -- strong enough to justify taking precautionary measures to protect exposed workers. Note this doesn't mean that if you are a worker exposed to formaldehyde you are likely to get leukemia. While your risk is greatly elevated it is on the order of a little less than 1%.
That's just the way the numbers work out. The rates are high enough that across the exposed population it's a serious concern that represents a large volume of human suffering; however for an individual the statistics don't warrant anything like panic.
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That's actually a lot higher than I had expected; it would be interesting to see how much of this they blame on Formaldehyde vs just normal base rate occurrence.
It's a very similar rate as death by car.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
They all avoid you because you're an asshole.
Us cancer free folks avoid you as well.
Asshole.
Cool, I'm an introvert so that works in my favour, thanks.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
1. Because they're dead.
2. Because they don't introduce themselves by telling you they have leukemia.
Everyone gets cancer if they live long enough not to be killed by other things. As far as we know, about half of it is due to natural processes, half is triggered by environmental carcinogens.
Bruce Perens.
Disgusting nostril hair? I'll have you know that I get it groomed every week. Dare I say it, my nostril hair is the envy of gods!
You think I would snort hair conditioner to get high or leukemia? Shows what you know about class and style.
So far as I'm concerned if you treat anything as 'word of god' in an unironic manner then you're suspect.
Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen and highly toxic. Go right ahead and ignore it, you can serve as an example of others for what not to be.
People with leukemia tend to congregate in certain areas ... like hospital wards. Maybe you should visit one.
I have met somebody that survived it. But I knew him for some months before he told the story and it was not readily obvious before. And the ones that do not make it, you do not meet.
Or to put it otherwise: You are both stupid and clueless. An ideal sheep to be manipulated into doing things that are bad for you but make others a ton of money.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The minority you're seeing are just the ones who are visible. If you see one cockroach or ant, does that mean there's only one ant or cockroach? Nope.
Accuses me of generalizing
Writes an entire paragraph of generalizations himself
Generalizes ME as well
TROLLOLOLOLOLOL. Fuck off.
I think you need to learn the difference between christians and cops.
#DeleteFacebook
I think the really important issue in situations like this is preventability. How possible is it to reduce some number that represents human suffering, and at what cost?
The numbers for the impact of industrial exposure to formaldehyde are in an interesting territory. The statistical risk is not so high that you would, say, rule out taking a good job that involved formaldehyde exposure. Your risk is roughly on the order of 7/10 of 1%, which is low, but something like 700x greater than the baseline. This makes taking steps to reduce worker exposure reasonable.
The car analogy is apt. Would you drive if cars didn't have safety belts, crumple zones, and anti-lock brakes? Sure you would. Is it a good thing that these are all standard on cars today? Yes it is. And cars remain a major source of risk do to our high exposure; the problem is that the next steps to make them marginally safer haven't been as cost productive, until recently. Electronic stability control, lane departure warnings and blind spot monitoring are all cheaper and more feasible today than they would have been when seatbelts were made mandatory in the US in 1968.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Formaldehyde is in everything. Well, not quite everything, but a huge number of products. New clothes? Yep. That new flooring? Certainly
https://branchbasics.com/blog/...
https://hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bi...
It even occurs naturally in some foods:
https://www.foodinsight.org/ch...
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Naw, it's ok to question the media coverage, but if you're questioning the paper without reading it, then yeah, you're anti-science.
These constant political posts are driving me away. Please, there are many sites that already cover this crap. Stick to tech!
My nostril hair is shaped like a mullet.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
What exactly is the risk?
We might be able to find out if the corrupt weasels in the EPA would publish this research. But no.
Actually it's pretty simple if you know there are expected to be 174,250 cases in US in 2018 and there are 327 million US citizens then the odds of contracting Leukemia sometime in a given person's life is maybe close to 4% (though effectively a bit less for actually detecting it etc).
Of course, that says nothing about the effects of one or any toxic chemical. That's just the overall average risk to all US citizens.
Bird cage. I won't ruin the surprise on what the 'birds' are.
Am I just lucky and I put out a lucky aura that protects those around me?
No, just lacking in reading comprehension and / or a basic understanding of logic. Or a bought and paid for troll. Only you can know the answer to that.
TFA said this:
Americans inhale enough formaldehyde vapor in the course of daily life to put them at risk of developing leukemia and other ailments
Walking in the middle of the road doesn't mean you will without a doubt be ran over. It does increase your risk. Would you be against warning people that walking in the middle of the road increases their risk of being ran over?
If most Americans got sick in that way, US pathologists and epidemiologist would have book chapters on that.
TFA doesn't say anything like that. It says there's an increased risk. Are you really not able to understand the difference between the statements "you have an increased risk of a disease" and "you have a disease"?
... Formaldehyde is one of the most commonly used chemicals in the country. Americans are exposed to it through wood composites in cabinets and furniture
And don't ferget trailers Vern. Them things is toxic with a capital "T".
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
That's because this article is about how the EPA is blocking the release of the facts. (Or at least a report claiming to contain them)
Doesn't understand sarcasm
Bugger off.
Meanwhile, internal documents show, a trade group representing businesses that could face new regulations and lawsuits if the study were released had frequent access to top EPA officials and pressed them to either keep it under wraps or change its findings.
...and the cover-up is (usually) worse than the crime. They never learn. You think tobacco would be the whipping child of the courts these days if it had been a simple case of "oh, when we found out we put warnings on the boxes right away"? These interest groups are a liability to their industries but the industries can't get enough of them.
Someone had to do it.
OK, who here is snorting formaldehyde ?
Everyone who works in an office building whose windows are sealed shut.
With cancer specifically it's also the fact that cancer happens so often and is such a broad disease that you can link pretty much everything to it.
Drink too much wine or too little wine has some correlation with some form of cancer. These studies are generally too small to make accurate statements against and you can P-hack anything to increase or decrease your cancer risk and populations can often not be compared across studies because they collect different data or use different tools.
You would have to do standardized multi-site, multi-year studies which requires an enormous budget.
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Seriously, in DAILY life? I call major B.S. on this.
I'm a programmer... I don't eat salad. Just pizza.
Ah.... we have found common ground. I like a little Cheese whiz on my pizza when the wide isn't looking.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I thought you were serious for a second or two LOL.
I sometimes come very close to a Poe.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Both your quotes. Pick the one that projects what you actually believe.
I'll pick the second quote, because the first quote was from Oswald McMeany, not me.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Someone would see the result of that "more" over generations of testing.
Peer review and US wide data collection on health would be telling going back decades.
Advanced nations like the USA do keep looking at averages over generations of health and know what is happening any given decade.
The US can afford its own epidemiology reports.
Brain experts, kidney experts, lung experts, heart experts, diabetes experts all look at what happened and report.
Massive jumps in the numbers resulting in most people in the USA getting something would stand out.
Both in treatment numbers and the national numbers for that year and decade.
Peer review would find over and under reporting.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Formaldehyde oxidizes to Formic Acid in atmosphere.
It has a half-life of about 1-2 hours unless hydroxyl ions are present, then it lasts around 12 hours.
"Formaldehyde is an essential metabolic intermediate in all cells. It is produced during the normal metabolism of serine, glycine, methionine, and choline and also by the demethylation of N-, S-, and O-methyl compounds. As such, it is a normal metabolite, and enters into the chain of biochemical events in humans and other animals to give rise to essential cellular substances. ... In humans, the overall evidence for cancer is inconsistent and associations are relatively weak when significant."
The EPA simple guidelines for exposure are here:
https://www.epa.gov/aegl/forma...
The units are ppm or mg/m^3. For most food products Formaldehyde concentrations are in micro-grams/Kg.
The complete 71 page EPA report is here, and explains AEGL:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/prod...
Most individuals will notice the distinct, pungent odor of formaldehyde at the AEGL-1, less than 1ppm, and experience eye irritation. At AEGL-2 formaldehyde causes mild lacrimation (like a tear gas), at 14ppm. At AEGL-3 death occurs at100ppm for 10 minutes or in 8 hours at 35ppm.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
In beer as well.
I come here for the love
I wonder how long George Burns would have had to live to get cancer? Saying that if something else hadnâ(TM)t killed them theyâ(TM)d get cancer is a statement that canâ(TM)t ever be proven and so making it is foolish.
Look at that article. Notice the pollution collected on the EPA front doors in the picture!
Just adds to my cynicism over the anti-protection EPA policies.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
YOUR MOM causes cancer, you're the living proof.
Oooo so biting. So brave. Are you going call me a cockroach or an ant now? Are you going to wave the flag of science while defending anti-science?I am ready for your boot to squash me like a dehumanized cancer for the betterment of your sanity. The world would be utopia if everyone thought just like you. amirite.