EPA Protect Public Health: Use the Best Available Science to Prevent Cancer

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is not doing what it can to protect people from cancer.

The “Miscellaneous Organic Chemical Manufacturing,” or “MON” rule, was an opportunity to reduce risk to communities from exposure to toxic air pollutants from the chemical industry. Instead, the EPA is using bad science to justify putting communities at risk by exposing them to too much pollution.

The chemical plants that are covered by this rule release more than 150 toxic chemicals – pollution that creates a high cancer risk for nearby communities. The EPA’s acceptable risk limit for hazardous air pollutants is 100 cases of cancer in 1 million. The proposed rule would leave communities exposed to cancer risk as high as 300 in 1 million.

Thirty-three states have chemical plants covered by the proposed rule, including high concentrations of facilities in Texas and Louisiana - that are generally located next to low-income communities of color. People living near these facilities have some of the highest cancer risk in the country.

Rather than following the best science, the EPA is planning to weaken its protections by allowing communities to be exposed to greater amounts of toxic chemicals.

Tell the EPA to scrap this bad science and protect communities from toxic chemicals.

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