Hazardous material

Monday, Dec. 29, 2008 | 2:06 a.m.

In its mission to protect human health and the environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is supposed to act as a clearinghouse for information about hazardous chemicals.

However, an analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that the EPA is making it difficult for people to find information about chemicals and is allowing companies to keep compounds, including those shown to cause cancer and respiratory problems, secret.

It’s not supposed to be that way. The EPA’s chemical monitoring program was established 30 years ago to help the public steer clear of dangerous chemicals. Manufacturers are required to regularly file information about the hazardous chemicals they make. They are allowed to withhold information only in limited circumstances, including trade secrets but, when it comes to health and safety information, nothing is supposed to be secret.

The EPA, though, rarely challenges companies’ claims to secrecy, even when there are potential health and safety issues. Agency critics say that is because the EPA’s chemical surveillance program has been “starved of resources and generally abandoned,” said Myra Karstadt, a former EPA toxicologist who worked on the program.

As it is, available information is sparse and hard to find. The EPA’s Web site has only about four years of manufacturers’ filings online, and a clunky search engine makes finding information on a chemical difficult and time-consuming.

The EPA says it intends to give as much information as possible so people can “understand potential human health and environmental risks associated with exposure to chemical substances,” but it has failed, and its failure means that the public is further at risk, not having all the information it needs to make wise decisions regarding chemicals.