Chemical manufacturers have undermined the integrity of the EPA. They can apply so much pressure to approve a chemical that the agency does not dare disobey or even hesitate.

We must make sure that the EPA can do its job. As a first step, the EPA should eliminate all promises of confidentiality to manufacturers. Such commitments give the companies too much power. Instead, the EPA must always reserve the right to show the public all that it knows about a chemical's effects.

The only kind of confidentiality that it has a duty to respect is about the individual subjects in a medical experiment.