"EPA Hired Consultants To Counter Staff Experts On Fluoride"

"At a trial over fluoride regulations this summer, EPA eschewed its own experts, hiring an outside company often deployed by corporations to deny and downplay chemicals' health impacts.

Exponent Inc. — founded in the 1960s to defend automobile manufacturers in accident lawsuits — has since been busy questioning whether smoking causes lung cancer, whether Agent Orange exposure leads to prostate cancer, and whether per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are linked to kidney cancer.

Testifying for EPA in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Exponent experts cast doubt on studies that underpin federal regulation of lead and mercury, even as the agency's own scientists — under subpoena by the plaintiffs — said new research does indeed warrant a review of fluoride's neurotoxic effects.

That EPA would favor "rented white coats" over federal experts underscores just how cozy President Trump's EPA has become with industry, experts say."

Ariel Wittenberg reports for E&E News October 12, 2020.

SEE ALSO:

"Op-ed: It Is Time To Protect Kids’ Developing Brains From Fluoride" (Environmental Health News)

"New Health Data Puts EPA’s Fluoride Toxicity Trial on Ice" (Bloomberg Environment)

"EPA’s Chemical Regulation Authority at Stake With Fluoride Case" (Bloomberg Environment)

"Fluoridation Case Challenges EPA Chemical Evaluation" (Bloomberg Environment)

Source: E&E News, 10/13/2020