A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the chemicals industry that aimed to block EPA rules that relied on a prior toxicological study of formaldehyde.
In its lawsuit filed last year, the American Chemistry Council had asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to stop EPA from using a report released in August by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that largely backed the agency’s toxicological review of formaldehyde.
ACC had alleged that the panel behind the report had conflicts of interest and had been influenced by EPA.
The report in question examined a 2022 assessment from EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System that found breathing in formaldehyde can cause cancer. Trade groups representing chemical companies have pushed back and argued formaldehyde is safe to use under current regulations.
