Tweet
Congress wants probe of human testing claims at UNC-CH
Congress is acting against an EPA study in Chapel Hill that involved human test subjects breathing Diesel fumes.
The chairman of the U.S. House's committee Science, Space and Technology sent a five-page letter to the Office of the Inspector General demanding that it probe whether the human testing was appropriate.
Back in 2006, the EPA exposed a number of test subjects to concentrated diesel fumes at its Chapel Hill research center without ever telling them what they were breathing.
One of those test subjects six years ago was UNC undergrad Landon Huffman.
"They convinced me that what I was doing was harmless, that I was breathing air from outside," he said.
Rep. Carl Broun's (R-Ga.) letter asks the inspector general to determine if the EPA followed its own guidelines in conducting the study of a substance the agency has publicly declared causes premature death and is linked to significant health problems.
Broun says the EPA's characterization of health and morality concerns is inconsistent with the report of the human testing experiments by the agency.
"I question the appropriateness of testing humans with high concentrations of pollutants that EPA considers dangerous at any level," Broun said.
The congressional committee also wants to know if the EPA:
• Obtained sufficient approval of its test subjects;
• Obtained adequate informed consent from those being tested;
• Adequately addressed any adverse events that occurred in test subjects during or after the study.
The congressional subcommittee wants the probe to be wrapped up six and a half months from now, by April 2013.
Earlier this month, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, Democratic Chairman of the Committee, requesting an immediate hearing.
In the letter, Inhofe called on-going experiments at the EPA's Human Studies facility at UNC "extremely disturbing."
Inhofe says the EPA may be criminally liable for its conduct because the EPA has previously and officially determined PM2.5 can kill people and cause cancer.
Meanwhile, the EPA is already being sued by a Virginia based foundation in connection with the study.
The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit against the EPA, saying the agency's North Carolina doctors exposed patients to lethal toxins without their knowledge in experiments that began roughly six years ago.
The lawsuit alleges the EPA piped concentrated high levels of substances like fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and diesel exhaust into the lungs of 41 unhealthy people to see what would happen.
During a 2011 congressional hearing, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson equated the lethality of particle pollution to cancer.
"Particulate matter causes premature death. It doesn't make you sick, it's directly causal to dying sooner than you should," Jackson said at the time.
The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center also filed a temporary restraining order to have the on-going trials at UNC stopped. A federal judge, however, denied that request, saying he lacked the jurisdiction needed to make a decision.
Congress is acting against an EPA study in Chapel Hill that involved human test subjects breathing Diesel fumes.
The chairman of the U.S. House's committee Science, Space and Technology sent a five-page letter to the Office of the Inspector General demanding that it probe whether the human testing was appropriate.
Back in 2006, the EPA exposed a number of test subjects to concentrated diesel fumes at its Chapel Hill research center without ever telling them what they were breathing.
One of those test subjects six years ago was UNC undergrad Landon Huffman.
"They convinced me that what I was doing was harmless, that I was breathing air from outside," he said.
Rep. Carl Broun's (R-Ga.) letter asks the inspector general to determine if the EPA followed its own guidelines in conducting the study of a substance the agency has publicly declared causes premature death and is linked to significant health problems.
Broun says the EPA's characterization of health and morality concerns is inconsistent with the report of the human testing experiments by the agency.
"I question the appropriateness of testing humans with high concentrations of pollutants that EPA considers dangerous at any level," Broun said.
The congressional committee also wants to know if the EPA:
• Obtained sufficient approval of its test subjects;
• Obtained adequate informed consent from those being tested;
• Adequately addressed any adverse events that occurred in test subjects during or after the study.
The congressional subcommittee wants the probe to be wrapped up six and a half months from now, by April 2013.
Earlier this month, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, sent a letter to Sen. Barbara Boxer, Democratic Chairman of the Committee, requesting an immediate hearing.
In the letter, Inhofe called on-going experiments at the EPA's Human Studies facility at UNC "extremely disturbing."
Inhofe says the EPA may be criminally liable for its conduct because the EPA has previously and officially determined PM2.5 can kill people and cause cancer.
Meanwhile, the EPA is already being sued by a Virginia based foundation in connection with the study.
The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit against the EPA, saying the agency's North Carolina doctors exposed patients to lethal toxins without their knowledge in experiments that began roughly six years ago.
The lawsuit alleges the EPA piped concentrated high levels of substances like fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and diesel exhaust into the lungs of 41 unhealthy people to see what would happen.
During a 2011 congressional hearing, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson equated the lethality of particle pollution to cancer.
"Particulate matter causes premature death. It doesn't make you sick, it's directly causal to dying sooner than you should," Jackson said at the time.
The American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center also filed a temporary restraining order to have the on-going trials at UNC stopped. A federal judge, however, denied that request, saying he lacked the jurisdiction needed to make a decision.
Comment