Another Rollback Of Environmental Protections: Proposal From Trump Administration Limits Important Scientific Studies On Health
The head of the EPA says the proposal would bring greater transparency to the agency, but scientists warn that the regulation would dilute some of the most important environmental research of the past decades. News is also on a former chemical industry exec tapped to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The New York Times:
E.P.A. Updates Plan To Limit Science Used In Environmental Rules
The Trump administration has formally revised a proposal that would significantly restrict the type of research that can be used to draft environmental and public health regulations, a measure that experts say amounts to one of the government’s most far-reaching restrictions on science. The revisions made public Tuesday evening mean the Environmental Protection Agency would give preference to studies in which all underlying data is publicly available. That slightly relaxed restrictions in an earlier draft that would have flatly excluded any research that did not offer up its raw data, even if that data included medical information protected by privacy laws or confidentiality agreements. (Friedman, 3/4)
The New York Times:
Chemical Industry Executive Nominated To Lead Consumer Watchdog Agency
President Trump has tapped Nancy B. Beck, a former chemical industry executive, to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency charged with protecting the public against dangers like toxic substances in products. Dr. Beck previously led the Environmental Protection Agency’s office of chemical safety, a position she came to after serving as the senior director of regulatory science policy at the American Chemistry Council, a lobbying group for the chemical industry. (Friedman, 3/3)
