"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has backed off its re-assessment of cancer-causing nitrates despite decades of research suggesting the contaminant is more harmful than previously thought and that nitrate pollution is at crisis levels in US drinking water. The agency would not confirm the assessment was cancelled, but the work has been stagnant for more than two years and the department responsible for it was eliminated. The EPA announced it would re-assess nitrates — and nitrites — in 2017 to look at other potential health impacts, including cancer, but the work was suspended in 2019 by the first Trump administration. The Biden administration re-started the work, and the EPA accepted public comments on the planned assessment in 2023 but the agency hasn’t provided an update since. Earlier this year, the Trump administration eliminated the EPA’s Office of Research and Development, which housed the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) and was responsible for such health assessments."