By Derek Hawkins

Law360, New York (January 10, 2012, 5:54 PM ET) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s program for evaluating the public health risks of potentially hazardous chemicals still faces a backlog of chemical assessment work and concerns about transparency despite the agency’s attempts at reform, according to a federal report released Monday.

The EPA’s Integrated Risk Information System program has struggled to increase productivity and ensure that its cache of information is accessible and accurate, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found.

Under IRIS, the EPA conducts toxicity assessments of a range of chemicals to determine potential risks...