Chemical Industry’s Nancy Beck Tapped to Lead the Commission that Protects Consumers

President Trump has nominated Nancy Beck, a former chemical industry official, to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an independent federal agency tasked with protecting the public from the same toxic chemicals Beck has long defended, alongside more than 15,000 other regulated products. “Nancy Beck is a one-woman wrecking ball when it comes to protections from toxic chemicals in our food, water, and household products,” says Daniel Rosenberg, the director of federal toxics policy at NRDC. Beck, who currently serves as one of the lead political appointees for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s toxics office, has faced continual criticism over decisions that ignore science and prop up harmful substances, like asbestos and methylene chloride.