EPA/SCOTT PRUITT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new regulation Tuesday [4-24-18] that would restrict the kinds of scientific studies the agency can use when it develops policies, a move critics say will permanently weaken the agency’s ability to protect public health. Under the measure, the E.P.A. will require that the underlying data for all scientific studies used by the agency to formulate air and water regulations be publicly available. That would sharply limit the number of studies available for consideration because much research relies on confidential health data from study subjects. Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, announced the proposed regulation this afternoon at agency headquarters, flanked by Republican lawmakers who sponsored legislation designed to achieve the same ends as the new regulation…Supporters and critics alike say the policy will have far-reaching consequences that could limit the E.P.A.’s ability to regulate carbon emissions, air pollution and pesticides. The new regulation means that some of the most important research of the past decades — for example, studies linking air pollution to premature deaths and measuring human exposure to pesticides — would not be available to policymakers if scientists were unwilling to break the confidentiality agreements they struck with study subjects in order to collect sensitive personal information.”
–Lisa Friedman, “E.P.A. Announces a New Rule. One Likely Effect: Less Science in Policymaking.,” The New York Times online, April 24, 2018