^tDsr-% • B \ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Inspector General At a Glance 15-P-0064 January 21, 2015 Why We Did This Review This is a quick reaction report that addresses the completeness and consistency of information provided on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) website regarding disinfectants for use against the Ebola virus. The EPA's Web page http://www.epa.gov/oppad001/lis t-l-ebola-virus.html, titled Disinfectants for Use Against the Ebola Virus, contains a list of registered disinfectants that meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria for hospital disinfectants. This list is also known as List L. Disinfectants like those on List L are regulated and registered by the EPA. During the registration process, the EPA reviews data submitted by manufacturers to verify that products with a public health claim are effective. The EPA also has its own testing program— the Antimicrobial Testing Program (ATP)—which tests the effectiveness of products after they are registered. This report addresses the following EPA goal or cross-agency strategy: • Ensuring the safety of chemicals and preventing pollution. Send all inquiries to our public affairs office at (202) 566-2391 or visit www.epa.gov/oiq. The full report is at: www.epa.aov/oia/reports/2015/ 20150121-15-P-0064.pdf Quick Reaction Report: Complete and Clear Information on the Effectiveness of Ebola Disinfectants Will Better Inform the Public What We Found As of December 2014, the EPA's List L Web page included 192 disinfectants that meet CDC criteria for use against the Ebola virus. The EPA's List L Web page contains the name of the disinfectant product (e.g., Clorox®), and whether the product can be used in hospital and health care settings, offices, schools and residential settings. Of the 192 products listed, 29 recently registered products (registered since 2010) have not been tested for effectiveness by the ATP. This status is not disclosed on the List L Web page. In addition, we identified eight products on List L that are not listed on the ATP Web page http://www.epa.qov/oppad001/antimicrobial-testinq-proqram.html. According to the EPA, three of the eight products were recently registered and had not been posted to the ATP Web page. The other five products had been tested by the ATP; however, their testing status was missing from the ATP page. A 2010 report by the EPA Office of Inspector General found that many antimicrobial products, such as disinfectants, scheduled to be tested by the EPA's ATP were not tested. Of those that were tested for effectiveness, the failure rate was high. The EPA has now tested more products. According to the EPA, the lack of ATP testing on recently registered products does not pose any risk to the public due to enhanced manufacturer testing requirements for recently registered products. However, the testing results designed to demonstrate whether products work as claimed by manufacturers are not being communicated clearly. Recommendations and Agency Corrective Actions We recommended that the Assistant Administrator for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention modify the List L Web page information to indicate the status of the EPA's ATP testing on all products listed. We also recommended that the EPA ensure that all List L products are included on the ATP list, and product testing status is clearly reported. The agency agreed with our recommendations and has completed actions to address them. Both recommendations are closed. The EPA's Web pages should have ongoing, clear information about the effectiveness of disinfectants for use against the Ebola virus. ------- |