Volume 385, Issue 9974, 28 March 2015
WORLD REPORT Proposed legislation would change how the US Environmental Protection Agency uses science to determine pollution limits. The Lancet‘s Washington correspondent Susan Jaffe reports.
Approval of two controversial environmental bills in the US House of Representatives last week was the latest assault in the Republicans’ “war on science”, according to Democrats. Republicans, however, considered it a big step towards assuring that federal environmental regulations are based on solid scientific research. Despite the sharp difference of opinion along political lines, both sides claim to pursue similar goals—to keep the agency responsible for protecting the nation’s health and environment impartial and closely guided by the best science.
…The Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 would prohibit the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing or finalising any policy “unless all scientific and technical information” officials relied on is “the best available science” and is “publicly available online in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results”.
“The days of ‘trust me’ science are over”, the bill’s lead sponsor, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, told The Lancet. “The American people deserve to see the data.” [Continued: full text or PDF ]