Monday, October 15, 2018

US government scraps two scientific panels which advise on harmful effects of air pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency moved this week to disband two outside panels of experts charged with advising the agency on limiting harmful emissions of soot and smog-forming pollutants. The agency informed scientists advising the EPA on the health impacts of soot that their "service on the panel has concluded," according to an email shared with The Washington Post. Experts being considered to sit on a separate board evaluating ground-level ozone also received an email from the EPA saying it will no longer form the panel, which had yet to meet. The EPA had asked for nominations in July. The decision to dissolve the panels is part of a broader effort by the EPA's leadership to change the way the agency conducts and assesses science. Those efforts include trying to limit what counts as health benefits when crafting air rules and incorporate into rulemaking only studies that make their underlying data public...MORE

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