The Trump administration is taking significant steps to streamline government operations and eliminate waste. It recently bolstered these efforts in an executive order aimed at rescinding regulations that aren’t explicitly authorized, seeking to stop regulatory overreach. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin quickly followed suit, announcing 31 deregulatory actions aimed at driving down consumer costs, unleashing domestic energy, and bringing automotive jobs back to the United States.
One program that stands out as a prime candidate for elimination is the EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System program. This unauthorized program has long been a source of controversy and inefficiency, and its removal would align with the administration’s efforts to cut government waste.
The IRIS program, established in 1985, was designed to assess the health hazards of chemicals found in the environment. However, it is often criticized for its lack of transparency and scientific rigor. The program operates without congressional authorization, making it a prime example of government inefficiency.
In fact, the Government Accountability Office has issued repeated warnings about the IRIS program for more than a decade. Since 2009, the program has remained on the GAO’s High-Risk series, which identifies government programs that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement. The IRIS program’s output is slow and many of the program’s assessments take more than 10 years to complete. This lack of timeliness further undermines the program’s effectiveness, making it a liability rather than an asset to regulatory processes.
Chemistry is foundational to virtually every product people use each day. Computer chips, national defense, modern healthcare, housing, infrastructure, agriculture, and energy are all made possible by America’s chemical industry. Unfortunately, EPA’s IRIS program jeopardizes many of the critical chemistries needed for these applications with assessments that are either out of step with other regulatory bodies or defy common sense, often leading to unnecessary public alarm and confusion.
For instance, the IRIS program’s assessment of formaldehyde sets levels that are significantly lower than other international jurisdictions. Formaldehyde is a critical chemistry needed for housing, automobiles, agriculture, transportation, lifesaving vaccines, and national security.
Ethylene Oxide is a critical chemical building block for energy development, automobiles, semiconductors, and healthcare. EPA has imposed restrictions on this chemical based on a severely flawed IRIS assessment, which found ethylene oxide to be dangerous at levels 23,000 times lower than those naturally present in the human body.
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Over 80 industry leaders recently wrote to the EPA urging action on this program, and Congress has noticed and taken aim too. The recent introduction of the No IRIS Act, championed by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), seeks to prevent the EPA from using IRIS data to inform its rulemakings. This act is a crucial step in safeguarding businesses from the detrimental effects of unscientific and unauthorized regulatory actions.
The Trump administration’s focus on a more efficient and effective government should be targeted not only at wasteful programs, but also at those that actively undermine America’s priorities and have been called out by the GAO. By eliminating the IRIS program, the administration can further reduce waste and help ensure that regulatory decisions are led by the program offices responsible for air, water, and waste rulemaking and are based on sound science and proper oversight, ultimately benefiting businesses and taxpayers.
Chris Jahn is president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council.