In what many view as a victory for science, a U.S. court last week slammed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for proposing tighter guidelines for safe drinking water than its scientists thought necessary.
The case is the first test of draft risk guidelines that use molecular data to assess whether low doses of a substance can cause cancer. After reviewing studies suggesting that tiny doses of chloroform--a carcinogenic byproduct of chlorinating water--are harmless, EPA scientists in 1998 proposed increasing the goal for maximum tap-water levels from 0 to 300 parts per billion. But under pressure from environmentalists, the agency nixed the change. The Chlorine Chemistry Council sued, claiming EPA had violated a law that requires it to base decisions on the best science.
On 31 March, a federal judge agreed, finding that EPA "openly overrode" the scientific evidence. Toxicologist Jay Goodman of Michigan State University in East Lansing says the ruling should be "a wake-up call to EPA," which now plans to reevaluate its stance.
