As the managing editor of a peer-reviewed journal, I’m accustomed to seeing disclaimers alongside articles written by employees of federal agencies; they normally explain that the views expressed don’t necessarily reflect official agency views or policy. However, I was taken aback last month when I saw that USDA was instructing its researchers to use an […]
Hours before the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on the Alan Reinstein Ban Asbestos Now Act of 2019 (HR 1603), the New York Times reported that EPA ignored its scientists’ advice in proposing a new asbestos rule.
Environmental Health
Commenters Slam EPA’s Attempts to Ignore Benefits of Regulating Mercury and Other Air Pollutants
Of the more than 300,000 public comments submitted to EPA regarding a proposed undermining of air pollution rules, several criticized the agency for something that’s become a disturbing trend under the Trump administration: Ignoring evidence that demonstrates a need for regulation.
Scientific Integrity & Ethics
The Scientific Integrity Act: Much-needed protections for federal science
Last week, Representative Paul Tonko (D-New York) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced the Scientific Integrity Act in the House and Senate. By codifying safeguards for science at federal agencies, the bill would better position our nation to use science to solve problems from pandemics to climate change.
What connects the opioid crisis, football players’ concussion risks, and climate change? A playbook created by the tobacco industry that relies on denying evidence of harms to public health.
Scientific Integrity & Ethics
Two years into the Trump era, “a pervasive pattern of sidelining science”
A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists documents how the Trump administration has sidelined science, and shows how science supporters and Congress can push back.
The annual “March for Life” this year tries to claim science is on their side, but it isn’t. Commentators are calling them on the contradiction between this claim and the anti-science policies pushed by organizations that aim to ban abortion.
The nationwide financial squeeze on federal employees, contractors, and the businesses that depend on them may be the most visible harm from the ongoing partial government shutdown, but we should also be aware of damage to science. The shutdown has furloughed federal scientists, stalled data collection, weakened scientific meetings, left current and potential collaborators hanging, […]
Scientific Integrity & Ethics
New FOIA rules from DOI would further limit access to important information
DOI has rolled out another strategy for reducing public access to information it considers unfavorable: making it harder to get information via Freedom of Information Act requests.
The tenure of Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke was marked by numerous ethical concerns and a disregard for science.