Environmental Protection Agency scientists cite political interference

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: CNN/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists complain they have been victims of political interference and pressure from superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group. The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work....

The report said that 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said they believe such interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than the previous five years....

In the survey, the EPA scientists described an agency suffering from low morale as senior managers and the White House Office of Management and Budget frequently second-guess scientific findings and change work conducted by EPA scientists, the report said.

The survey covered employees at EPA headquarters, in each of the agency's 10 regions around the country and at more than a dozen research laboratories. The highest number of complaints about political interference came from scientists who are directly involved in writing regulations and those who conduct risk assessments such as determining a chemical cancer risk for humans.

Nearly 400 scientists said they had witnessed EPA officials misrepresenting scientific findings, 284 said they had witnessed the "selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome" and 224 scientists said they had been directed to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information" in an EPA document....

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/23/epa.scientists.ap/index.html

[cal04]

1. U.S. Environment Scientists Report Political Meddling

Nearly 900 scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency have experienced political interference in their work in the last five years, the Union of Concerned Scientists reported on Wednesday.

The nonprofit environmental organization said its investigation of EPA was in line with previous probes of other U.S. agencies which found "significant administration manipulation of federal science."

A government spokesman denied this, and said scientific findings were balanced with policy concerns.

(snip)
"OMB and the White House have, in some cases, compromised the integrity of EPA rules and policies; their influence, largely hidden from the public and driven by industry lobbying, has decreased the stringency of proposed regulations for nonscientific, political reasons," one scientist wrote in response to the investigation.

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-science.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, DeepModem Mom.

[RedEarth]

3. kr

[annabanana]

4. HUNDREDS of EPA scientists... "more than half"

Well that says volumes. I expect that ALL the Agencies are similarly compromised. It will take more than 2 terms to begin to undo the damage.

We need to keep Dems in office.. And, for the Country's sake, it wouldn't hurt for the Repubs to do some serious housecleaning...

[lfairban]

5. NASA Scientists Make Astounding Discovery!

The Sky is BLUE!!

This is News? It has been going on for decades, it has only gotten more obvious in the last five years.

K/R