EPA Has Not Proactively Used the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee in the Development of Regulations, Guidance, and Policies

While EPA has convened the committee for dozens of presentations and  discussions with EPA and non-EPA officials, the agency has made few  requests for the committee’s advice or recommendations on regulations,  guidance or policies to address the disproportionate risks to children’s  health. Nonetheless, the committee has sent more than 70 letters to the  Administrator offering hundreds of recommendations on a wide range of  children’s health concerns. For example, the committee has heard from  representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and  the National Academy of Sciences. EPA Has Rarely Sought the Advisory Committee’s Advice on Regulations, Guidance, and Policies that Address Children’s Health

Despite convening the Advisory Committee more than 30 times over the  last 10 years for discussions with a variety of speakers, EPA has rarely  sought out the committee’s advice and recommendations to assist it in  developing regulations, guidance, and policies that address children’s  health. The clearest example is EPA’s request in October  1997—prior to the committee’s first meeting—that the committee identify  five regulations or standards for the agency to re-evaluate in order to  better protect children. EPA Has Largely Disregarded Key Recommendations from the Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee

The process that EPA initiated to carry out the Administrator’s  commitment, in a June 2007 letter, to address the Advisory Committee’s  key recommendations has stalled. As  illustrated in figure 6, the areas of concern to the committee included the  need for EPA to (1) eliminate environmental health disparities among low- income and minority children, (2) strengthen the national approach to  regulating toxic chemicals, and (3) provide necessary leadership and  infrastructure to protect children’s health. However, a new acting office director  stopped the process in late 2007, opting instead to hold individual  meetings with EPA’s assistant administrators. Advisory Committee Recommendations on Air Quality Standards Have Not Been Substantially Addressed

We also examined the Advisory Committee’s recommendations related to  three air quality standards—the National Ambient Air Quality Standards  (NAAQS) for particulate matter, ozone, and lead, which EPA recently  reviewed. Specifically, we  identified seven letters containing 23 recommendations with respect to  EPA’s proposed revisions to the particulate matter, ozone, and lead  standards. While EPA provided the Advisory Committee with official response letters  to six of its seven NAAQS-related letters, we found that the agency  generally did not acknowledge or was noncommittal to the committee’s  recommendations, or that it offered merely to consider them as part of the  public comment process. In one instance, EPA rejected a committee  recommendation. President’s Task Force on Children’s Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks Expired in 2005, Eliminating An Important Opportunity for EPA Leadership and Interagency Coordination

The President’s Task Force was authorized by executive order in April  1997 for a period of 4 years to provide high-level leadership and  interagency coordination on children’s environmental health. At the urging  of the EPA Administrator in April 2003, the President ordered the task  force to be extended for a final 2 years. However, this order eliminated the  provision for reassessing the need for continuance of the task force, which  was not convened after October 2001. The President’s Task Force identified four major environmental and safety  threats to children—asthma, developmental disabilities (including lead  poisoning), cancer, and unintentional injuries, and it recommended  national strategies for each of them. According to the  children’s health experts with whom we spoke, the task force provided  critical leadership on several important initiatives such as the National  Children’s Study and the Healthy Schools Environments Assessment Tool  (Healthy SEAT). Since the task force’s expiration, EPA and HHS no longer have a high-level  infrastructure or mandate to coordinate federal strategies for children’s  environmental health and safety. Based on our review of EPA’s use of  the Advisory Committee and the agency’s general unresponsiveness to the  committee’s key recommendations, coupled with the expiration of the  President’s Task Force, we believe the agency needs to reinvigorate its  focus and leadership on children’s environmental health in order to meet  current and emerging challenges facing the nation’s children.
Why GAO Did This Study

According to EPA, children face disproportionate risks from contaminants such as air pollution and lead paint. The health consequences to the country's 74 million children are significant. In 2006, 55 percent of children lived in counties exceeding allowable levels for at least one of the six principal air pollutants such as ozone which causes or aggravates asthma. Asthma is the third-most common cause of childhood hospitalization, resulting in $3.2 billion in treatment costs and 14 million lost school days annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1997, EPA created the Office of Children's Health and convened the Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) to provide advice and recommendations to assist in developing regulations, guidance, and policies to address children's health. In April 1997, the President signed Executive Order 13045, creating an interagency Task Force to recommend federal strategies for protecting children. Our testimony is based on ongoing work on the extent to which EPA has used the Advisory Committee and addressed the committee's key recommendations. It also includes information about the Task Force. We met with numerous EPA officials and analyzed the committee's letters. GAO recommends, among other things, that EPA expeditiously complete its review of the Advisory Committee's key recommendations.

What GAO Found

EPA has not proactively used the Advisory Committee to ensure that the agency's regulations, guidance, and policies address the disproportionate risks that environmental contaminants pose to children. Our analysis found that the Advisory Committee met more than 30 times and discussed a variety of environmental health issues with dozens of officials from EPA offices such as Pesticides and Toxic Substances, and Research and Development. However, we identified just three instances where EPA specifically asked the committee for recommendations and advice on regulations--most notably an October 1997 request that the committee identify five regulations or standards for EPA to re-evaluate in order to better protect children. In the absence of focus and direction from EPA, the Advisory Committee has taken the initiative to write more than 70 letters to the Administrator since 1998 containing hundreds of recommendations on a wide variety of children's health concerns. EPA has not addressed key recommendations from its Advisory Committee, particularly those in a major April 2007 letter and in recent letters advising EPA on proposed revisions to national air quality standards. The April 2007 letter, which marked the 10th anniversary of the Executive Order, provided recommendations in seven key areas. These included the need for EPA to eliminate environmental health disparities among low-income and minority children. While EPA generally responds to the Advisory Committee's letters, the agency has not fulfilled the Administrator's commitment in his response to the 10th anniversary letter to collaboratively review recommendations from the advisory committee. The Office of Children's Health had begun forming internal workgroups, but a new acting director stopped the process in late 2007 to hold individual meetings with EPA's assistant administrators, and the process remains stalled. We also analyzed EPA's responses to the committee's specific recommendations on three recently-considered EPA air quality standards--the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter, ozone, and lead--and we found that EPA either offered to consider the committee's recommendations as part of the public comment process or rejected them. The President's Task Force, which was authorized in April 1997, provided high-level interagency leadership and coordination on children's environmental health, but it expired in April 2005. According to the children's health experts with whom we spoke, the task force provided important leadership on initiatives such as the National Children's Study and the Healthy Schools Environmental Assessment Tool. The task force also developed federal strategies to address four threats to children--asthma, developmental disorders, cancer, and unintentional injuries. In 2003, the President ordered the task force to be extended by 2 years, but the order eliminated the provision for reassessing the task force. Since the task force's expiration, EPA no longer has a high-level infrastructure or mandate to coordinate federal strategies for children's environmental health and safety.