Talk:Michael Dourson

Job title at the EPA

Dourson is a candidate for an Assistant Administrator job at the EPA. A White House Press release describes this job as "Toxic Substances". There is no Office of "Toxic Substances" at the EPA. It's a handy nickname, like Top Cop for Attorney General. Dourson's role is defined by 40 CFR §1.43 Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. There is no indication that the Administration has proposed a change to the regulation or the office name. This is the case of a matter of fact, not interpretation, where a secondary source would not preempt a primary source. Rhadow (talk) 12:36, 7 October 2017 (UTC)

Makes sense, thanks for making the change. Marquardtika (talk) 01:54, 9 October 2017 (UTC)

WP:COI

Hello TERAitTeam -- Based on your username and the nature of the content you are adding, you are strongly advised to discontinue editing this article. Rhadow (talk) 01:13, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

My Username represents me since I am not an employee of TERA. I have read the complete article and think the information that was added by me and represents a fair and factual account of what went on with Michael Dourson's failed attempt to join the EPA. As I see it this article is one sided and someone needs to speak up. If you can propose a solution for a more balanced article please let me know. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TERAitTeam (talk • contribs) 02:38, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

Request edit on 22 January 2018

In contrast, TERA developed a document that clarified various misrepresentations of Michael Dourson’s record in this editorial and Democratic criticisms. To cite an example from TERA’s "Example of Collaborative Work in Environmental Risk Assessment by TERA document" on page 1 1-Bromopropane 3 section:

Claim:

1. TERA proposed a weaker standard for 1-bromopropane, a solvent used in degreasers, aerosol solvents, spray adhesives and dry cleaning.

TERA’s response:

1. In 2004, occupation limits for 1-bromopropane differed by 16-fold between several organizations’ risk values.
2. TERA critically evaluated the underlying information and recommended an occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 20 ppm based on effects in newborns.
3. TERA’s value was lower than EPA’s.

Click on Example of Collaborative Work in Environmental Risk Assessment by TERA document to open the PDF from the TERA website and read TERA’s complete responses to the various claims.

Reason why I want Michael Dourson article edited. I have tried to edit the document a few times and you keep removing it. I am not an employee or representative of anyone cited in the article including TERA. I am a person who wants to make sure this one sided article has both sides and facts based on science and years or research. Please let me know if you will change the article or not.

Requested edits

Thank you for your suggestion to add text about TERA's approach to 1-bromopropane. There are two issues with this request: (1) the material you have provided as a reference is sourced from the subject of the article. For inclusion, it must come from an independent and reliable source. Both terms are defined by Wikipedia. (2) It would appear that this example is cherry picked from many examples.

The article has been substantially edited to minimize bias. It includes material supportive and critical of Dr. Dourson. If you have independent and reliable sources that add to an encyclopedic article on Dr. Dourson, please post them here, and we'll get them in.

Frankly, though, your choice of username makes it hard to believe you do not have a dog in this hunt. If you want to engage on this page, you'd do well to change it. You don't have a long history with Wikipedia, so you won't lose any brand-value. Rhadow (talk) 03:57, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

(proposed) Toxicology debates

Dourson's organization TERA has studied many substances whose use has been the matter of public debate, including chlorpyrifos (a pesticide), diacetyl (a food additive), ammonium perchlorate (a rocket fuel), 1-bromopropane (an industrial solvent), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) (a plastics production chemical). The determinations of safe occupational exposure limits, safe water standards, threshold limit value, recommended exposure limit and safe dose may vary by a factor of ten, even among equally qualified investigators.

In his 2017 confirmation hearings, Dourson was grilled about safe levels of PFOA in drinking water. The attack came amid the filing of 3,500 lawsuits over PFOA exposure. In 2002, Dourson and two other TERA scientists had participated in a court-ordered ten-person panel to review existing research on PFOA. Five members of the panel were government representatives and two from DuPont. The panel found no history of illness or premature death in 3M or DuPont manufacturing workers since 1947. It did find a heightened liver disease risk in animal models among other lesser risks. The panel recommended a reduction in the allowable amount in drinking water to 150 ppb, a reduction from a DuPont-sponsored recommendation of 210 ppb. The concentration of PFOA in the Lubeck, West Virginia public water supply was at that time 1 ppb.

Response to Proposal

Thank you for submitting the proposed changes. They are perfectly acceptable. I can see how this is done now. Thank you Rhadow for your help. --CorvetteRed84 (talk) 18:03, 22 January 2018 (UTC)CorvetteRed84 — Preceding unsigned comment added by CorvetteRed84 (talk • contribs) 17:44, 22 January 2018 (UTC)

References