dourson

<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/11/13/epa-michael-dourson-nomination-republicans/">https://theintercept.com/2017/11/13/epa-michael-dourson-nomination-republicans/</a>MASSIVE CONFLICTS OF interest no longer stand in the way of confirmation to the Environmental Protection Agency’s highest posts, as Scott Pruitt, the EPA’s sworn enemy, demonstrated when he ascended to the agency’s top job. Last Thursday, the Senate confirmed a second highly conflicted EPA nominee, fossil fuel lobbyist <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/10/06/watch-a-top-epa-nominee-embarrass-himself-with-feigned-ignorance-of-basic-facts/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Bill Wehrum</a>, who will now oversee air pollution protections despite his clear record of working to undermine those very same protections. With only one Republican opposing Wehrum, the 49-47 vote was a reminder of how little Senate Republicans expect of those who are meant to protect us from environmental threats.Yet <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/10/03/epa-nominee-michael-dourson-toxic-chemicals/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Dourson</a>, the industry scientist Trump nominated to head EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, may be unable to clear even this low bar. Though the Senate’s Environment and Public Works committee voted to advance Wehrum’s and Dourson’s nominations at the same <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/10/25/epa-michael-dourson-senate-vote/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">October 25 hearing</a>, only Wehrum’s advanced to the floor of the Senate, an indication that Republicans don’t yet have the votes to confirm Dourson.Resistance to his nomination is coming from red states that have been directly harmed by chemicals Dourson has defended on behalf of industry. The senators from West Virginia, for example, might have been expected to fall in line behind Dourson. But in a hearing last month, West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito questioned the nominee about his involvement with two chemicals that have affected her state: PFOA and MCHM, both of which, Capito said, had “very much touched the lives of my fellow West Virginians.” Capito, who didn’t respond to inquiries for this story, has yet to announce how she will vote.Dourson was responsible for <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/07/21/trumps-epa-chemical-safety-nominee-was-in-the-business-of-blessing-pollution/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">setting a state standard</a> for PFOA that was thousands of times higher than the EPA’s current safety level. His consulting company Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment also worked on MCHM, one of the chemicals that spilled into West Virginia’s Elk River in 2014, leaving some 300,000 people without drinking water.West Virginia’s other senator, Joe Manchin, <a href="https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/manchin-statement-on-epa-nominee-dourson-" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a> his intention to vote against Dourson last month. Though a Democrat, Manchin often votes with Republicans, but not this time. West Virginia is “unfortunately familiar with the dangers that can arise when we neglect to properly comply with and enforce our chemical regulations,” Manchin said in a statement.Dourson is also facing problems in another red state struggling with chemical contamination: North Carolina. While both Republican senators from the state voted for Pruitt and Wehrum, <a href="https://bnanews.bna.com/environment-and-energy/north-carolina-senators-decline-to-back-epa-nominee-dourson" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">neither</a> has committed to Dourson. The state is home to Camp Lejeune, the military base where TCE and other carcinogenic chemicals seeped into drinking water, leading to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/health/cancer-can-be-tough-case-to-prove.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">cluster of cancer cases</a>. As retired Marine Jerry Ensminger <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article181973661.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">pointed out</a> in the Raleigh News and Observer, Dourson’s evaluation of TCE, which was paid for by the American Chemistry Council, calculated a safety level that was less protective than the one set by the EPA. Ensminger, whose daughter died of leukemia at Camp Lejeune, has called on his senators to oppose Dourson, whom he calls a “walking, talking example of conflict of interest.”North Carolina is also <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/06/17/new-teflon-toxin-found-in-north-carolina-drinking-water/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">ground zero</a> for <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/03/03/new-teflon-toxin-causes-cancer-in-lab-animals/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">GenX</a>, the latest in a family of chemicals known as PFAS to be found in drinking water. DuPont and its spinoff, Chemours, have dumped at least 1 million pounds of PFAS into North Carolina’s Cape Fear River since 1980. GenX and other PFAS are unregulated, which is limiting the state’s ability to clean it up.While he has stayed mum about whether he will vote for Dourson, North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr wrote to Pruitt on October 31, asking him to consider evaluating GenX and the entire class of chemicals to which it belongs, a step that could lead to regulation. <a href="https://insideepa.com/daily-news/hedging-toxics-nominee-burr-urges-pruitt-address-pfc-concerns" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Some</a> have suggested that Burr’s support for Dourson may be contingent on whether the EPA promises to help address his state’s water contamination problem. Burr’s office did not respond to inquiries for this story.In addition to these possible defectors, Maine Sen. Susan Collins is also expected to break with the Republican ranks to oppose Dourson. Collins was the only Republican senator to vote against both Pruitt and Wehrum.“Susan has been heroic in so many ways,” said Delaware’s Sen. Tom Carper, who has been leading the charge against Dourson in the Senate.Because Dourson has worked on behalf of industry to defend dozens of chemicals that have contaminated the water and air of Republicans, as well as Democrats, Carper hopes that some of Collins’s colleagues will join her this time.“We’ve heard from states around the country where lives have been lost because of exposure to toxic chemicals,” Carper told The Intercept.“I know some of our Republican colleagues don’t feel good about the votes they cast on the floor,” he said. “After casting votes for one troubling nominee after the other after the other, you reach a point where some of the Republicans will say, Enough already. No more.”=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-michael-dourson-withdraws-2517395591.html</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px;"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-michael-dourson-withdraws-2517395591.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;">Victory! Monsanto Shill Michael Dourson Withdraws After Public Outcry</a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2517395591" data-authors="Center for Food Safety" data-headline="Victory! Monsanto Shill Michael Dourson Withdraws After Public Outcry" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style=""><div class="widget__brief" style="">The <a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Center for Food Safety</a> heralded reports that Michael Dourson, President Trump's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemical-safety-2484776932.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">controversial nominee</a> to lead the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Wednesday withdrew his nomination after senators raised concerns over his <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-pick-2487495174.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">past work and conflicts of interest</a>."Dourson is a long-time <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-chemical-safety-nominee-2490584414.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">pesticide industry shill</a>, with a history of manipulating scientific research to benefit corporate special interests. He was a dangerous, irresponsible choice to oversee chemical safety at the EPA," said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director a Center for Food Safety."The Senate correctly raised important conflict of interest concerns based on the public's outcry. Make no mistake: This is your victory, food movement. The Trump Administration should now move forward to nominate someone who will put public and environmental health over the profits of chemical companies."</div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;">If confirmed, Dourson would have been in the position to set safety levels for many of the same chemicals his company was hired to defend. Multinational chemical companies like Dow, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/monsanto" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Monsanto</a> and DuPont have routinely hired Dourson to downplay the effects of highly toxic substances linked to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-lawsuits-roundup-cancer-2324693930.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">birth defects, developmental problems and cancer</a>. For years, Dourson has accepted payments for "criticizing studies that raised concerns about the safety of his clients' products," according to a review of financial records and his published work by The Associated Press. In fact, Dourson has spent much of his career helping companies fight restrictions on their toxic products. Dourson even went so far as to assert that children are less susceptible to toxic chemicals, despite the widespread, verified scientific consensus that children are more susceptible.At his committee hearing, Dourson's questionable track record and refusal to commit to recusing himself from working on chemicals he's been paid by industry to "study" in the past led Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) to tell Dourson, "You're not just an outlier on this science, you're outrageous in how far from the mainstream of science you actually are. It's pretty clear you have never met a chemical you didn't like.""Dourson's withdrawal is another victory for the American people, sound science and the rule of law," said Kimbrell. "The food movement needs to continue to speak loudly against this Administration's efforts to promote corporate profits over the protection of farmers, food safety, public health and the environment."Dourson is the second controversial nominee to withdraw in as many months. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sam-clovis-usda-2462483880.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Sam Clovis</a>, a former Trump campaign aide, climate change "skeptic" and conservative radio talk show host, withdrew from consideration for Chief Scientist at USDA, after months of opposition and public outcry about his lack of qualification and biases. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sam-clovis-russia-2504835418.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Clovis was also linked</a> to the ongoing investigation into Russia's interference with the 2016 presidential election.</div></div></div></div><div style="">=<div class="headline-container" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 10px;"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Meet the 4 Horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 10px;"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2487546138" data-headline="Meet the 4 Horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style="">By Mary Anne HittEvery week, another decision that endangers our families seems to come out of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt's</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump's</a> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>).The latest facepalm/outrage comes in the form of confirmation hearings that start this week for four completely unacceptable nominees to critical leadership positions at EPA.This Wednesday, Sep. 20, the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works will <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/hearings?ID=70C061F1-0A2F-446B-BDC8-662052AC0963" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">decide whether to confirm</a> Bill Wehrum to lead the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, David Ross as chief of the EPA's Office of Water, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemical-safety-2484776932.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Dourson</a> to head up the agency's chemical safety programs. Later this month, they will hold a hearing on the nomination of Andrew Wheeler as EPA's deputy administrator, the agency's second-in-command.We can thank EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt for these four horsemen of the EPA-pocalypse—four people who will gladly choose polluters over public health and clean air and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" style="text-decoration-line: none;">water</a> standards every time.Andrew Wheeler, who Pruitt has tapped for the number two spot at EPA, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/07/21/trump-to-tap-longtime-coal-lobbyist-for-epas-number-two-spot/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">described by the Washington Post</a> as a "longtime coal lobbyist" and has worked on behalf of a company which reportedly has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/us/24murray.html?r=0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">numerous environmental and worker safety</a> violations. Wheeler <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/andrew-wheeler-epa-deputy-2318403147.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">has spent his career challenging vital life-saving environmental protections</a> that keep our air and water clean so that we can keep our families safe (I wrote <a href="http://www.sierraclub.org/compass/2017/07/another-fox-henhouse-coal-lobbyist-tapped-for-top-spot-trump-s-epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">this post</a> about him earlier this summer). He also used to be an aide for outspoken <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate-denying</a> and corporate-polluter-loving senator, James Inhofe.Bill Wehrum, Pruitt's pick to head up the office in charge of enforcing the Clean Air Act and keeping your air safe to breathe, is a lobbyist who represents a host of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">coal</a>, oil, gas, and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" style="text-decoration-line: none;">chemical</a> companies, and was a former George W. Bush-era EPA official. If you recognize his name, it's because he was also nominated to this position in 2006—his nomination was withdrawn when he failed to earn support of the 60 Senators needed for confirmation.And while he's nominated to lead the EPA's air and radiation office, ironically enough, he's said that the Clean Air Act shouldn't apply to the carbon pollution that contributes to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a> and superstorms like <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricane-harvey" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Hurricane Harvey</a>. As my friend <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/where-will-bill-wehrum-trumps-latest-epa-nominee-take-us-clean-air" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">John Walke at NRDC put it</a>, Wehrum "is an industry lawyer who was largely responsible for the Bush EPA's record of violating the Clean Air Act more often, and allowing more illegal emissions of harmful <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" style="text-decoration-line: none;">air pollution</a>, than any EPA administration before or since."David Ross, nominated for for the top spot at the Office of Water, has sued the EPA many times related to its clean water safeguards in his work representing fossil fuel states like Wyoming, including challenging the Clean Water Rule and the Chesapeake Bay cleanup program (he lost the latter lawsuit, which the <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/07/27/stories/1060058019" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">court called</a> "long on swagger, but short on specificity"). According to <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/07/27/stories/1060058019" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">E&E News</a>, he "has represented states and industry in lawsuits against the agency—some of which were filed by then-Oklahoma Attorney General and now EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt."Finally, Michael Dourson is on deck to head up the EPA division that oversees the chemical industry, called the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. According to the <a href="https://www.edf.org/media/deep-concerns-over-nomination-industry-consultant-lead-toxics-program-epa" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Environmental Defense Fund</a>, "Dourson has extensive, longstanding ties to <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20141219/one-stop-science-shop-has-become-favorite-industry%E2%80%94and-texas" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the chemical industry (as well as earlier ties to the tobacco industry)</a>. He also has a history of failing to appropriately address his conflicts of interest." The first example they cite hits close to home for me as a West Virginian—they report he was the sole spokesperson for an expert panel studying the 2014 Elk River chemical spill but failed to disclose, until cornered by a reporter, that he had previously "done paid work for both of the companies that produced the chemicals involved in the spill."In addition, Dourson has spent much of his professional career writing studies that undermine existing science and concerns about toxic chemicals, and call for weaker regulations on chemicals like <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">pesticides</a>. As our friends at the <a href="http://action.ufw.org/page/speakout/dourson" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">United Farm Workers</a> explain, Dourson was paid by Dow Agrosciences to downplay concerns about a toxic pesticide and cast doubt on a Columbia University study linking exposure to it by pregnant women to irreversible neurodevelopmental problems in children—in other words, to hide the fact that the pesticide is dangerous to kids. As you may have heard, in a highly controversial move the EPA recently <a href="https://sierra.secure.force.com/actions/National?actionId=AR0085207&id=7010Z000001usLPQAY&data=2f3d8b232ed6d5fdff869520328611cbc055ad66dd2806da52b55069a8b6a516b8d7bb2226cd72c720a5afe276c6c58b&utm_medium=email&utm_source=sierraclub&utm_campaign=internationalclimate" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">reversed restrictions on the use of this pesticide</a>, called <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">chlorpyrifos</a>, shortly after meeting with officials from Dow.Senators shouldn't get fooled—Scott Pruitt has seized the EPA and is trying to install polluter lobbyists in key positions. We can't let dirty fuel lobbyists win—we need the Senate to draw the line and reject these nominations.Mary Anne Hitt is the director of the <a href="http://beyondcoal.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign</a>.</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">swamp thing: nb cf bannon chl rose  djt ban and only limited # ppl avail to fill posts</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemical-safety-2484776932.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemical-safety-2484776932.html</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For decades, a weak law left Americans at risk from toxic <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">chemicals</a> in everyday products such as cleaners and fabrics. As a result, chemicals tied to infertility, learning disabilities and even <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">cancer</a> found their way into all our homes, schools and workplaces.A turn-around looked likely in 2016 when Congress <a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2016/06/07/3-things-know-about-most-important-new-environmental-law-decades" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">passed a strong, bipartisan law</a> to overhaul the Toxic Substances Control Act to better protect our health. The agency charged with carrying out the new law <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2017/08/07/epas-announced-changes-to-new-chemicals-review-process-put-industry-demands-for-ready-market-access-above-public-health-protection/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">hit the ground</a> running and was making good progress.That is, until a new president was elected and new leadership took over the reins at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">EPA</a>).The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Trump administration</a> first <a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2017/05/10/conflicts-interest-taint-trumps-environmental-picks-top-7-examples" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">installed a top official</a> from the main chemical industry lobbying group to oversee changes to rules that will determine how chemicals are reviewed for safety. The changes she made could undermine efforts to protect us from harmful chemicals for many years to come, according to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/22/trump-epa-energy-chemicals-clash-239875" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Politico</a>.The push to return America to its toxic past may now accelerate with Trump's subsequent nomination of Michael Dourson to run the EPA's entire chemical safety program.
Dourson has made a career as a hired gun for the chemical industry, helping clients play down concerns over toxic chemicals with known and potentially severe health effects.Defended tobacco and TeflonIf confirmed to the top job at the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, Dourson will be regulating his old industry friends. It's a pattern we keep seeing with Trump's administration as the president and his appointees turn the federal government's mission to protect public health on its head.Dourson's paid work for industry goes back several decades and includes work he did for the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20141219/one-stop-science-shop-has-become-favorite-industry%E2%80%94and-texas" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">tobacco industry </a>in the late 1990s and early 2000s.Also on his resume is his work involving the "Teflon" chemical PFOA, which continues to affect <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">drinking water</a> in places such as West Virginia, Ohio, New York and Vermont. And he worked for the manufacturer of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">controversial pesticide chlorpyrifos</a>, which Dourson defended and the Trump EPA decided not to ban despite expert calls to do so.Dourson: Toxic toys? Kids should wash handsAmong other things, Dourson's company used industry money to develop and run a now-defunct website, "<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20161013022021/http:/kidschemicalsafety.org:80/health/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">kidschemicalsafety.org</a>," with copy penned by staff from chemical industry consulting firms who sought to put chemical hazards "into context."The website told parents, for example, that even water can be toxic at high exposure levels, "but few people would want to ban" water.It also played down concerns about chemicals in products such as toys, shifting the burden to parents by suggesting they make sure to read labels, keep toys out of their children's mouths, and make sure kids wash their hands after playing.His defense: Jesus hung out with shady people, tooOf course, none of Dourson's work will come as a shock to anyone who has followed industry tactics closely. Whether professional <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">climate deniers</a> or <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2017/04/03/putting-profits-over-our-childrens-health/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">big tobacco</a>, manufacturing doubt is a well-known dark art.The problem here is that if the Senate votes to confirm him, Dourson will speak from a government office.Running the toxics office at the EPA is unlikely to change Dourson's outlook. After all, this is the man who defended his work for tobacco <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/12/19/16546/one-stop-science-shop-has-become-favorite-industry-and-texas" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">to downplay concerns</a> about second-hand smoke by saying "Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors."That logic may help Dourson sleep at night, but it won't provide much solace to those of us who were hoping the new law would do a better job protecting us from toxic chemicals.Jack Pratt is the chemicals campaign director at <a href="https://www.edf.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Environmental Defense Fund</a>.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div></div>