Texas Follows Strict EPA Policy In Rare Arsenic Inhalation Risk Analysis

Texas officials have issued a rare inhalation risk assessment of arsenic for use in air monitoring and permit decisions, using the Environmental Protection Agency's conservative “linear” approach for assessing risks that has drawn attacks from industry because the approach -- which EPA is using in its stalled study of arsenic's oral risks -- assumes no safe exposure level. Arsenic has come up as a chemical of concern in OSHA consultations with stakeholders on updating permissible exposure limits. An assessment of arsenic's inhalation risk is unusual, in part because much focus in the past deca