FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2026
CONTACT:
Aaron Bharucha, Public Relations Associate
(509) 429-1699 and epn-press@environmentalprotectionnetwork.org
Health Experts Warn Americans Face Toxic Risks as EPA Abandons Health Protections
EPN Unveils “Terrible Toxics” Situation Report, Calls for Stronger Protections Under New “Safer, Not Sicker” Campaign
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the first time, the Environmental Protection Network (EPN) has released “Terrible Toxics: A Situation Report,” identifying 12 high-risk pollutants with weakened or delayed federal safeguards, and detailing how Americans are exposed through the food they eat, the water they drink, the air they breathe, and the products in their homes. The report brings together in one document a detailed account of actions under current EPA leadership that represent the greatest threats to Americans’ health and safety. This report consolidates and analyzes them, incorporating the perspectives of former EPA scientists and independent experts to show which changes pose the greatest health risks and how individual regulatory shifts affect Americans’ daily lives.
For more than 50 years, EPA’s bedrock mission has been to protect Americans’ health from industries whose operations can cause toxic harm. Yet the current leadership is rolling back protections against toxic chemicals, putting Americans at greater risk of toxic exposure while giving polluting industries more leeway to release toxics into our air, water and land. As these toxic chemical exposures rise across America — driving hormone disruption, infertility, low birth weight, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, and childhood learning challenges — health experts and environmental scientists are sounding the alarm about the startling scale of federal actions that are increasing these risks.
The new report, announced today during a national press call, details 12 major toxic pollutants and connects well-documented health harms to specific EPA decisions, concluding that protecting Americans is a choice — one current leadership has failed to make. Organized by how Americans encounter them — through drinking water (PFAS, lead, arsenic, TCE), food (mercury, pesticides), air (PM2.5, ozone, benzene, formaldehyde, vinyl chloride), and homes and consumer products (phthalates, lead) — the report’s key findings reveal the staggering reach of these pollutants across the United States.
Key Takeaways From the Terrible Toxics Situation Report:
- 172 million people are exposed to PFAS/forever chemicals in their drinking water.
- 185 million are served by water systems with detectable lead.
- All 50 states have had fish advisories triggered by mercury contamination.
- 85 million breathe unhealthy air year-round from soot PM2.5 pollution.
- 125+ million breathe with unhealthy ozone levels.
- 34.6 million homes contain lead paint hazards.
At the scale identified in the report, decisions by the current administration to roll back or delay safeguards effectively treat existing exposure levels as safe enough. The experts involved in the report say those levels continue to pose serious and preventable health risks.
EPN also announced “Safer, Not Sicker,” a new national public education campaign aimed at helping Americans understand the scale of toxic chemical threats to their health — and mobilizing them to demand that government leaders restore strong toxic pollution safeguards.
Experts on today’s call, including former EPA scientists, medical professionals, and advocates, urged that Americans have a right to know the health risks they face and to rely on systems that make them safer, not sicker. They also called on industry and EPA to be transparent about these risks and ensure companies follow safeguards that put Americans’ health first.
Key Statements (As Prepared for Delivery):
Marc Boom, Senior Director of Public Affairs at the Environmental Protection Network:
- “When you examine these pollutants together, an important pattern becomes clear: Safeguards are now being delayed, weakened, or reversed across multiple major toxic threats at the same time. Families experience these pollutants in combination. When multiple safeguards are weakened at once, the health impact multiplies. The public deserves to understand the full scope of what is happening — not one rule at a time, but the cumulative impact.”
Dr. Betsy Southerland, former Director of the Office of Science and Technology in EPA’s Office of Water and EPN volunteer:
- “The bottom line is: these companies that handle PFAS are being given more, not less, leeway. EPA is delaying safeguards and withholding health science data. That means Americans’ toxic exposure is going up and so are our health risks.”
Dr. Chris Frey, former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development (ORD) and EPN volunteer:
- “The burden should not fall on individuals and families to manage chemical risks on their own. That is why Americans built a watchdog, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to evaluate risk and reduce exposure at the source.”
Sarah Bucic, MSN, RN, a nurse and policy leader with the nonpartisan Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments:
- “America’s nurses are dedicated to treating the sick, but we’d much rather have the U.S. EPA uphold its obligation to protect us from the toxic chemicals that make Americans sicker.”
Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus on Children and a national nonpartisan children’s advocate:
- “Parents across the spectrum — including many speaking out right now about children’s health — are right to be morally outraged when children’s well-being comes second to industry interests.”
Dr. Afif El-Hasan, MD, a pediatrician with a focus on asthma and Board Director of the American Lung Association:
- “As a doctor, I will have a front-row seat to the damages caused when the U.S. EPA weakens the guardrails to keep soot out of our kids’ air. It means more children in emergency rooms struggling to breathe. It means more missed school days. It means more parents sitting up all night, fearful as they listen for the sound of wheezing. Children, older people, and people living near where these toxics are emitted will pay the highest price.”
Links:
“Terrible Toxics” Situation Report
“Safer, Not Sicker,” Campaign Website
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ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION NETWORK
The Environmental Protection Network is a nonpartisan organization comprising more than 700 former EPA scientists, toxicologists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and policy analysts — many of whom spent decades as career experts inside the agency. They assessed cancer and developmental risks, studied links between pollution and fertility and chronic disease, investigated contaminated communities, and brought enforcement actions to hold corporate polluters accountable. EPN was founded in 2017 to serve as an independent voice promoting science-based policies that protect Americans’ health.