EPA Establishes Integrated Risk Information System for Chemical Hazard Assessment

The EPA established the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) in 1985 under the Reagan administration to provide peer-reviewed, science-based health assessments for toxic chemicals that regulators across all EPA programs could use consistently. IRIS assessments quantify the highest safe level of human exposure to a chemical before adverse health effects occur, including cancer risk. The program became the national standard for chemical risk science, used by federal and state regulators, courts, and international health agencies for four decades.