WASHINGTON – In a vote along party lines, President Trump’s nominee Michael Dourson was approved by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to be the head of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention at the Environmental Protection Agency. The full Senate will likely vote on Dourson’s confirmation in the coming days.
Public health and environmental organizations’ alarm over the possibility of Dourson running the nation’s chemical safety programs is unprecedented. Nearly 170 national, state and local organizations, representing millions of Americans, oppose or have expressed deep concerns over Dourson’s nomination. Pediatrician, firefighter, farmworker, state and local public health, environmental, labor, reproductive and business organizations were among those raising concerns.
Dourson has spent more than two decades as a scientist-for-hire for major chemical and pesticide companies, including Dow, Monsanto and Koch Industries, and the lobby groups CropLife America and the American Chemistry Council.
“Just because President Trump insists on nominating someone so exceptionally unfit to serve as Mr. Dourson, doesn’t mean the Senate should throw their support behind him,” said EWG President Ken Cook. “If the Senate confirms Dourson, he will almost certainly tear down barriers in place at EPA to protect the public from toxic chemicals and the diseases they trigger.”
