Two year-end pieces from the New York Times capture the Trump administration’s awful toll on public health.
Last year, many of us spoke out forcefully against a horrible EPA proposal that would allow the agency to ignore important studies when regulating, on the pretext of increasing transparency. Rather than using the extensive criticism to engage in a more thorough and appropriate process — or, as many of us recommended, scrap the proposal altogether — EPA has apparently made it more far-reaching and disastrous for public health.
Last year, the Trump administration EPA dismissed the Particulate Matter Review Panel, leaving the agency and its primary group of clean air advisors without the expertise they need to thoroughly update air pollution standards. The review panel’s scientists are so committed to their work that they’ve decided to meet and provide their crucial advice even without the federal government’s blessing.
Examples of federal agencies ignoring and suppressing science are alarmingly common these days, but Adam Federman’s investigation into the Department of the Interior’s actions regarding the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is especially breathtaking.
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.
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.
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.
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, […]
The day after Thanksgiving, the White House made public the Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume II. Congress has mandated that these reports be released every four years, and the Trump administration seemingly figured that doing so on the day after Thanksgiving would limit public attention.
Following Hurricane Florence, North Carolina residents face health risks from livestock waste that’s been spilling from flooded containment enclosures.