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Final observations
Q: Do you have any final observations to make?
MR. TRAIN: I've talked long enough! I should mention that, in my judgement, the Cancer Advisory Committee that I set up is really the beginning of what is now called risk assessment, which has become an awfully important theme of EPA. Then as now, it wasn't hard to do laboratory tests and develop data which showed that if you fed so many mice so much of one ingredient for a given length of time, it would develop a malignant tumor. This meant there was a risk of cancer in those particular materials. But that was not terribly helpful. Somehow, you have to get beyond that and determine the magnitude of risk, learn at what level of exposure risks may occur. These were the tough questions, and I had a feeling the public never really appreciated their complexity. Certainly, Congress seldom did. So, I think the field of risk assessment has been extremely important, and is one the Agency must continue to give a lot of attention to. Bill Reilly has done this through the Science Advisory Board, which has made very important contributions. I like to think we started the trend.
I would also like to make a general comment on EPA relationships with the White House and OMB. I gave an interview not long ago to public radio, and the interviewer said, "Isn't it awful how the White House and OMB interfere with EPA in carrying out its responsibilities?" I reminded them that this is nothing new. It's been going on for a long time. I do think it's become more intrusive, more pervasive. It does seem to me that the White House today pays more detailed attention to what EPA does than was ever true in my day. Having said that, the White House and OMB always had a fairly lively interest in our regulations. While we didn't have a Competitive Council, we did have something called the Quality of Life Review. But it acted more to delay than to prevent initiatives. In my opinion, in the 1970s, EPA did not have the difficulties with the White House that it has today. My point is that such interference is not really something new, not something dreamed up by the Bush Administration or Reagan Administration. There was a good deal of it in the Carter Administration, and it certainly went on in the Nixon and Ford Administrations. But, I do think it has become more difficult.
Q: Mr. Train, thank you for this enlightening discussion.
MR. TRAIN: You are welcome.