EPA Faces Scrutiny Over Draft RDX Assessment's Cancer, Other Findings

EPA's draft assessment of the human health risks of exposure to Royal Demolition Explosive (RDX), a munitions explosive, is drawing criticism from a retired National Toxicology Program (NTP) scientist who argues the agency is downplaying the chemical's carcinogenicity and from the Defense Department (DOD), which is questioning several aspects of the assessment it argues are overly strict. "I was surprised and shocked when I read EPA's cancer weight-of-evidence (WOE) conclusion for [RDX]," Ron Melnick, a retired senior toxicologist with NTP,...