Letter to Acting Comptroller General Dodaro Requesting GAO to Examine the New IRIS System

June 10, 2009

 

 

Mr. Gene L. Dodaro

Acting Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office

441 G St. NW

Washington, DC 20584

 

Dear Mr. Dodaro,

 

The Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) was established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide science-based risk assessments of chemicals. Over the last eight years, the IRIS database has languished as a result of continuous process changes and endless interagency peer review processes demanded by officials in the Office of Management and Budget. In the last three years, an average of only two chemicals were added to the database, while EPA was given budget and staffing to produce 20 new entries each year.