https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/epa-toxic-chemicals.html This is a NYT article about the EPA's postponement of bans on the use of TCE (trochloroethylene), NMP (N-methylpyrrolidone) and methylene chloride. These substances are found in paint strippers and dry cleaning agents and are toxic. The Toxic Substances Control Act (AKA Frank Lautenberg Chemical Safety Act) is being reviewed for loopholes. TCE is "carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure" and causes developmental and reproductive damage. Methylene chloride is toxic to the brain and the liver and NMP poses reproductive hazards. But the EPA,postponing the review, has no set deadline and is back-burnering health protections from these and other toxic chemicals, which is unnecessary and dangerous.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih.html This is a NYT article about the removal of the ban on funding research geared at altering germs to make them more lethal. Francis Collins, the head of the NIH announced that a scientific panel (are there still scientists in the government?) must decide that the benefits override the risks. In 2014 all federal funding to projects designed to make MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) more dangerous was halted. The CDC in 2014 accidentally exposed lab workers to anthrax and shipped a deadly flu virus to a lab that had asked for a benign strain. Opinions vary on whether such research is worth the risk to the public, contributing little scientific knowledge but creating the possibility of an accidental pandemic.
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