Democrats are devoted to a single line of attack against President Trump’s nominee to head the EPA chemical and pesticides office. They accuse Michael Dourson, a toxicologist with decades of experience, of kicking puppies and poisoning kids.
Ranking member of the Committee on Environment, Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware concluded that Dourson didn’t have “a good heart.” Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico declared the nominee “might be the worst yet.” And Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut claimed the conservative would do a poor job regulating chemicals that “can literally kill people, or stunt the growth of children, or make people sick.”
But if those Democrats took a closer look at Dourson, if they actually examined his record, they’d see evidence of the opposite. He doesn’t kick puppies and he doesn’t poison kids. He saves them. Literally.
When a Kentucky family of four became dangerously ill in 2013 and suspected pollutants on their property, no one believed them. Not the original owner. Not the builder. And not the public health inspector. It was Dourson and his nonprofit organization, TERA, who discovered that harmful levels of airborne hydrogen sulfide was making the children sick and their pets foam from the mouth.
Later in California, Dourson served as an expert witness to help 130 San Francisco families poisoned by chemicals seeping into their homes from a nearby rail line. “Dr. Dourson’s work resulted in significant settlements with the railroad and related property owners due to the risk inherent in exposure to the TCE vapors,” wrote trial attorney Richard Bowles.
Clearly two examples are not enough to merit confirmation of the toxicologist. But when combined with the decades of experience, his 15 years of work with the EPA, and the four bronze medals he won from the agency, however, they seem to suggest that Dourson is a decently, honorable fellow and a more-than-qualified nominee.
