Can low-profile state health researchers fill a gap after Trump EPA cuts?
In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the research arm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a robust if little-known California agency known as the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is poised to take on an even bigger role to bridge the gap. … Experts said the decision to break up the research office sends a chilling signal for science and will leave more communities exposed to environmental hazards such as industrial chemicals, wildfire smoke and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — or PFAs — in drinking water, all of which are subject to the department’s analysis. … Kris Thayer, OEHHA’s director, came to agency from ORD, where she directed its IRIS program for identifying and characterizing the human health hazards of chemicals. She said the state is “absolutely going to be looking at every way that we can fill the void given our resources, but we are going to feel the pinch of this.”
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