Turning Science into Action
People are exposed to increasing amounts of toxic chemicals in air, food, water, personal care and cleaning products, at home and at work. The problem is so large, we cannot protect ourselves with individual actions alone - we need policy change.
That's why we share the science and best scientific methods to inform and guide policies that protect people from harmful chemicals, particularly those who are especially vulnerable such as pregnant people and children, and those who are disproportionately impacted.

How to Strengthen EPA's Mission to Protect Health
To help EPA put science and public health front and center, PRHE collaborated with top scientists and chemical policy experts from around the country to develop evidence-based recommendations to improve hazard and risk assessment, and prevent harms from chemicals and pollutants.
Major Policy Areas

Chemicals and TSCA
We analyze federal chemical policy and EPA's implementation of the updated Toxic Substances Control Act, the law that governs regulations of chemicals in commerce.

Science Integrity
PRHE developed the Navigation Guide systematic review methodology to better evaluate the quality and strength of the evidence on how hazardous chemicals impact health.

Industry Documents
From lead and tobacco to hiding the truth about fossil fuels and climate, polluters have a long history of manipulating science and public opinion to maintain their corporate interests. We help gather these documents as part of UCSF's Industry Documents Library.
Policy Strategies

Public Comments
We monitor EPA and other regulatory body actions and comment on whether they are following the best science and protecting health. Public comments are essential to holding government agencies accountable.

Legislative Briefings
PRHE planned legislative briefings to inform policymakers and staff about issues related to implementation of the Toxic Substances Control Act and science and decision making at EPA.

Science Action Network
PRHE launched the Science Action Network for Health and the Environment to bring together environmental health scientists to be a strong voice for science integrity and to prioritize health in chemical and environmental policy.
Published Papers
Chemical Policy
Recommendation: EPA must use the most scientifically up-to-date approaches to evaluate the hazards and risks of industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants that inform decision-making to protect public health.
Executive Summary
It is time to put science and public health front and center at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to ensure that the most significant and pervasive threats to health from harmful chemical exposures are properly addressed. There have long been serious problems with using the best science to inform chemical policy in the United States. Changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016 attempted to address these problems; however, the current administration’s implementation of TSCA illustrates how the changes fall short.
Systematic reviews are increasingly prevalent in environmental health due to their ability to synthesize evidence while reducing bias. Different systematic review methods have been developed by the US National Toxicology Program’s Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT), the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), and by the US EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), including the approach to assess risk of bias (ROB), one of the most vital steps which is used to evaluate internal validity of the studies.
This chapter provides basic definitions and methods used to synthesize epidemiological studies of air pollution effects in systematic reviews and metaanalyses and describes the use of systematic reviews and metaanalyses in policy- and decision-making and burden of disease/health impact assessments. We illustrate the elements of systematic reviews through an evaluation of systematic reviews of traffic-related air pollution and health and the strengths and limitations of the systematic review methods used in this topic area.
Evidence shows, that over their life cycle, chemicals used in everyday products contribute to raising cancer risks, especially for vulnerable populations such as children and communities of color. This article outlines how US policies have not yet incorporated current science in relation to environmental carcinogenesis and recommends improvements to protect public health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are developing joint estimates of the work-related burden of disease and injury (WHO/ILO Joint Estimates). For this, systematic reviews of studies estimating the prevalence of exposure to selected occupational risk factors will be conducted to provide input data for estimations of the number of exposed workers.
Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous chemicals that interfere with hormone action, thereby increasing the risk of adverse health outcomes, including cancer, reproductive impairment, cognitive deficits and obesity. A complex literature of mechanistic studies provides evidence on the hazards of EDC exposure, yet there is no widely accepted systematic method to integrate these data to help identify EDC hazards.