Just weeks after funeral service professionals traveled to Washington, D.C., for the 2026 NFDA Advocacy Summit to advocate for a more transparent and science-based approach to chemical regulation, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced significant changes to how it will use and communicate information from its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS).

The Agency’s new directive acknowledges longstanding concerns that IRIS hazard values have often been treated as de facto regulatory standards, despite representing only one part of a broader risk assessment process.

By encouraging EPA offices and outside stakeholders to revisit past reliance on IRIS assessments and ensure decisions reflect current science, statutory authority, and program-specific requirements, the policy shift represents an important step toward greater regulatory clarity and accountability.

For funeral service professionals and other small businesses that depend on formaldehyde-based products to provide essential services safely and responsibly, these changes could help reduce uncertainty while preserving strong worker and public health protections.

The EPA issued an internal directive on April 27 describing how the Agency will develop and use chemical risk assessment information going forward, particularly information from IRIS. The EPA says IRIS hazard and dose-response values will remain publicly available, but the Agency plans to add disclaimers emphasizing that these values represent only the first two steps of a four-step risk assessment and are “not necessarily intended for use as regulatory levels.”

The memo also encourages EPA program offices and “external entities” that have relied on IRIS assessments to review prior decisions to ensure the underlying information is fit-for-purpose, reflects current science, and aligns with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

• Possible ripple effects: Some standards, permits, and guidance documents that cite IRIS toxicity values could face renewed scrutiny or updated technical support.
• Program-by-program approaches: EPA indicates its regulatory offices will decide what hazard and dose-response approaches best fit each program’s legal framework.
• IRIS remains available: Existing final IRIS assessments (and information from assessments in development) are expected to remain public, but EPA will add clearer disclaimers about intended use.

NFDA Senior Vice President, Advocacy Lesley Witter was quoted in an article that appeared this week in the Daily Caller; the article recognized the association’s efforts on this issue. Witter was quoted as saying:

“Formaldehyde is a critical chemical used by funeral directors across America. Funeral directors are taught in mortuary school how to safely use formaldehyde. Our members have been concerned about access to this critical tool due to regulations based on a flawed IRIS value for formaldehyde. We’re happy to see EPA moving away from relying on unrealistic IRIS assessments and relying on high-quality gold standard science moving forward.”

NFDA will remain actively engaged throughout any EPA review or rulemaking processes affecting funeral service, continuing to work with agency officials and participate in public comment and stakeholder engagement opportunities to ensure our members’ voices are represented and to advocate for policies that protect both public health and essential funeral service operations.