[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 1, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S6962]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Nomination of Dr. Michael Dourson

  Dr. Michael Dourson will be an excellent Assistant Administrator for 
the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and will bring 
much needed expertise and experience to the office in charge of the 
TSCA reauthorization law. The TSCA bill was a huge success last year. 
It was done on a bipartisan basis. It is the first major reform bill in 
40 years, and we were able to get that through. Yet we need to have a 
person as the Assistant Administrator to make sure it is done right.
  Dr. Dourson has endured a coordinated campaign against him that 
misrepresents who he is and his record. There are groups working to 
paint Dr. Dourson as an ``industry scientist.''
  What you will not hear from these groups is that much of his career 
experience comes from the EPA itself, where he worked for 15 years. 
During his years at the EPA, Dr. Dourson helped establish the 
Integrated Risk Information System, which helps identify and document 
the potential dangers of chemicals found in the environment. He also 
has the honor of having received four bronze medals from the EPA for 
this commendable work. Dr. Dourson also served on EPA's Scientific 
Advisory Board for 6 years and has held leadership roles with a number 
of relevant toxicology organizations, receiving several awards from his 
peers.
  Since his time at EPA, Dr. Dourson has devoted his career to 
protecting public health by founding his own nonprofit that works to 
develop, review, and share risk assessments on various chemicals. His 
nonprofit work is mostly on behalf of government, with a minority of 
the work done at the request of various industries--many of these 
industries are very pro-environmental industries--as well as providing 
pro bono assistance to those in need of help. In other words, he used 
his expertise to help people who needed help and were not able to get 
it in any other way.
  Naturally, the industry work is the part that environmental activists 
have focused on to prove their claims that his research is a 
rubberstamp for dangerous chemicals. They hold the perspective--which 
is a myth--that working at the request of industry must mean that you 
are evil.
  As always, the reality is much different. On many occasions the 
nonprofit has developed risk assessments that did not support the 
industry sponsor and were the same or lower than the safe levels set by 
government. Furthermore, he has provided expert testimony against 
industry on several occasions. Unfortunately, the coordinated attack on 
Dr. Dourson will persist and a good man's reputation will continue to 
be put at risk.
  I ask that the leader find floor time for Dr. Dourson as soon as 
possible so he can get back to work at an agency that he served 
commendably for many years and ensure that those who seek to tear him 
down do not win.