Expert Profile

Erik Olson

Director, Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs
Pew Health Group

Erik D. Olson is the director of Food and Consumer Product Safety Programs at The Pew Charitable Trusts.  He was deputy staff director and general counsel of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works until November 2008 and has 25 years of experience in environmental policy and consumer advocacy.  Erik is responsible for consumer product safety, including efforts to improve food safety, overhaul toxic chemical regulatory programs to better protect children and other vulnerable people and establish safeguards for emerging risks in consumer products.

During his Senate tenure, Erik worked on environmental issues and on health threats from toxic chemicals, playing a key role in major environmental legislation and hearings on global warming, toxic chemicals, children’s environmental health, clean air, drinking water, clean water and environmental justice, among other issues.  He also helped to negotiate the lead and phthalates provisions enacted in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the green buildings and green schools provisions of the Energy Independent Security Act of 2007.

Prior to his Senate work, Erik worked for 15 years at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where he held various positions including advocacy center director, public health program director and senior attorney.  At NRDC, he worked extensively on toxic chemicals, pesticides, drinking water, hazardous waste and many other environmental and health issues.  He previously served as counsel for the National Wildlife Federation’s environmental quality program for five years and as an attorney for EPA’s Office of General Counsel, working on hazardous waste and water issues.

Erik graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif legal honor society and served as an editor of the environmental law journal, and from Columbia College of Columbia University, where he created an independent major in environmental biology and policy.

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News Room

June 9, 2010

Inside Washington: After Years of Outbreaks, FDA Steps Up Oversight of Produce Safety

The FDA will be putting in place preventive measures that will track how produce is handled from the farm to the table, in order to alleviate food borne illness.

May 15, 2010

Working to Save Lives With Safe Food

An op-ed by the Pew Health Group's Erik Olson, published in Tulsa World, urging Congress to pass food-safety legislation.

March 30, 2010

Weak Rules on Toxins and Safety

The New York Times reports on the regulation of toxins in the United States. The piece quotes Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety programs at Pew.

March 15, 2010

Oregon Health Officials, Others Taking a Closer Look at the Problems with Pepper

An Oregonian article on the risks associated with pepper quotes Erik Olson, director of Pew's chemical and food safety programs.

March 10, 2010

FDA Says Basic Food Flavors Knew Plant Was Contaminated With Salmonella

A Washington Post article on a growing recall of processed foods at a plant contaminated with salmonella. Erik Olson, director of Pew's chemical and food safety programs, is quoted.

March 3, 2010

Foodborne Illness Costs U.S. $152 Billion Annually, Landmark Report Estimates

A new analysis and interactive online map highlight the need to modernize the nation’s food-safety system.

January 9, 2010

Protection of Food Supply Faces Problems

Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety for the Pew Health Group, appeared in a CBS News segment on food safety.

November 12, 2009

Majority of Voters Support New Government Oversight of Food, Pew Commissioned Poll Finds

New polls of voters in Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Wyoming show overwhelming support for measures that would give the FDA new authority to ensure the food Americans eat does not make them sick.

November 10, 2009

3 Years After E. Coli Outbreak, Is Spinach Safer?

ABC's "Good Morning America” included a story about the safety of spinach. The piece focused on efforts to improve food inspections and quoted Erik Olson from the Pew Health Group.

October 22, 2009

Bill Giving FDA New Powers to Oversee Food Supply Has Wide Support

The Los Angeles Times cites a recent Pew-commissioned survey on food safety protections.

September 8, 2009

Pew-Commissioned Poll Finds Large Majority of Americans Want Stronger Food Safety Rules

Among likely voters surveyed across the nation, about 9 in 10 support the federal government adopting additional food safety measures, and 64 percent believe that imported foods are often or sometimes unsafe, according to a new Pew-commissioned poll by the bipartisan team of Hart Research and Public Opinion Strategies.

August 22, 2009

Debating How Much Weed Killer Is Safe in Your Water Glass

New York Times article on atrazine, a common weed killer often detected in water supplies. The piece quotes Erik D. Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at the Pew.

February 11, 2009

Improving the Food Safety System

Erik Olson, director of chemical and food safety programs with Pew Health & Human Services Policy, issued the following statement at today’s House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing on the recent peanut-related salmonella outbreak.

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