Washington DC – Today, Dr. Paul Broun (R-GA), Chairman of the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee, Dr. Andy Harris (R-MD), Chairman of the Energy and Environment Subcommittee, along with Senators David Vitter (R-LA), and James Inhofe (R-OK) sent a letter to Dr. Linda Birnbaum, Director of the National Toxicology Program (NTP), and Dr. Paul Anastas, Assistant Administrator of the Office of Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), regarding the results of a review of research at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which administers NTP, collaborated with EPA to create a Pathology Working Group (PWG) to conduct the review. The PWG was created because of questions raised in 2010 by an NTP review of the Ramazzini Institute’s work on a methanol cancer assessment study. The 2010 review led EPA to suspend its work on a handful of pending draft assessments of substances that also incorporated data from the Ramazzini Institute.
While an EPA press release last year stated that the results of the PWG review would be made public, EPA has yet to provide a copy of the report.
In their letter today, the Subcommittee chairmen and Senators request a complete and unredacted copy of the PWG report, as well as:
- a summary of the weight of evidence placed on the Ramazzini Institute’s work in IRIS’ assessment for reference doses of methanol;
- an update on the status of EPA’s position on whether to accept recent peer review of the non-cancer effects of methanol; and
- a list of all chemical assessments that include, or may include in the future, work performed at the Ramazzini Institute.
To read the full letter CLICK HERE