Scientific 'research' too polluted at the EPA
Letter to the editor
Copyright 1999 Washington Times
February 13, 1999
There is something inherently dishonest about researchers
eagerly accepting
government grants and then refusing to disclose the underlying data
supporting
their conclusions to the people who funded the enterprise: the
American
taxpayers ("Secret science," Editorial, Feb. 11).
That dishonesty becomes institutionalized when federal
agencies use the
"scientific" conclusions based
on the hidden data to justify new regulations.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has become particularly
adept at this
game. By passing out grants to a coterie of
"usual suspects," who can be counted on to produce
results following the EPA's preconceived
regulatory agenda, the agency has found a way to circumvent
standard scientific
procedures and expand its writ in the process.
The seriousness of the problem was recognized by the EPA's
own Science Advisory
Board, which in a landmark 1992 report,
"Safeguarding the Future: Credible Science, Credible
Decisions," found that:
"EPA should be a source of unbiased scientific information.
However, EPA has
not always
ensured that contrasting, reputable scientific views are
well-explored and
well-documented from the beginning to the end of the regulatory
process."
Where all this can lead was underscored by a group of EPA
employees who, in a
letter to The Washington Times in June, alerted the public that
"EPA regulations and enforcement
actions based on poor science stand to harm rather than protect
public health
and the environment" ("Blowing the whistle on EPA's
widespread abuse," June 10).
How does the EPA react to such internal criticism? Of the
13 EPA employees who
signed that letter, six have been forced to leave the agency.
Better to hide the data than to tolerate the truth.
BONNER R. COHEN
Senior fellow
Lexington Institute
Arlington
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