Industry Derails Labor Safety Rule with Data Quality Challenge
Nov 1, 2005 by Guest Blogger
A coalition of mining companies and trade associations appears to have used the Data Quality Act to derail a Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) rule that would protect miners from harmful particulate matter in diesel exhaust. The challenge did not raise actual objections to data quality; instead it couched industry's disagreements with the rule in data quality language. The tactic, however, appears to have succeeded in impelling the agency to publish a modification to the rule that weakens the mine worker protections.
read in fullRight-Wing Groups Challenge Link Between Carcinogens, Cancer
Sep 19, 2005 by Sean Moulton
Two right-wing, industry-backed groups filed a data quality petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenging the agency's labeling of certain chemicals as "likely human carcinogens." Specifically, the Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) and the American Council on Health and Science (ACHS) want EPA to eliminate statements in its Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment that indicate that a substance may properly be labeled as "likely to be carcinogenic to humans" based solely or primarily on the results of animal studies.
read in fullIndustry Misuses Data Quality Act to Challenge EPA Choices
Aug 22, 2005 by Guest Blogger
Two industry groups recently filed challenges, under the Data Quality Act, against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) methodological choices. Both challenges focus on evaluations of human health risks from specific chemicals. The petitions specifically question documents that address emissions of Metam Sodium, a pesticide, and Dioxin/Furan, used to produce cement. The petitions challenge EPA procedures, however, which are policy decisions made within the agency -- and not data -- and as such lie outside the scope of the Data Quality Act (DQA).
read in fullStakeholders Weigh In At First-Ever Congressional Hearings on Data Quality Act
Jul 25, 2005 by Guest Blogger
The Government Reform Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs held the first congressional hearing on the Information Quality Act, also known as the Data Quality Act (DQA) on July 20. The hearing reviewed implementation of the DQA at three federal agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The subcommittee also heard from interested stakeholders, including industry associations that have filed data quality challenges and public interest groups seeking the policy's repeal.
read in fullNIH AIDS Division Director Fired Possible Retaliation for Whistleblowing
Jul 11, 2005 by Sean Moulton
Dr. Jonathan Fishbein, a National Institutes of Health (NIH) researcher and director of the AIDS research division's Office of Policy in Clinical Research Operations, blew the whistle on poor scientific practices and inappropriate, unprofessional conduct by the department. NIH fired Fishbein on July 1 citing poor job performance, in what some believe to be retaliation. A review report for the NIH director's office confirms many of the issues that Fishbein raised about the agency's AIDS research division, adding to the speculation that his dismissal constituted a retaliatory action.
read in fullAmerican Chemical Society Tries to Limit Public Database of Chemicals
Jun 27, 2005 by Guest Blogger
Congress is considering intervening in a dispute about publicly available scientific information. The American Chemical Society (ACS) has asked that Congress limit or refocus the National Institute of Health's (NIH) PubChem database. PubChem is a freely accessible database that provides information about small molecules primarily used by medical researchers. ACS has raised its objections because PubChem overlaps with its commercial enterprise, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry.
read in fullWhistleblower Reveals Bush Administration Altered Climate Change Reports
Jun 13, 2005 by Guest Blogger
A former oil industry lobbyist changed language in government climate change reports to undermine the science on climate change and present it as less problematic, according to a government whistleblower, in what is becoming a persistent problem of politics trumping science. Days after news outlets broke the story, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation into the whistleblower's claims.
read in fullOMB Puts Children's Health at Risk with Data Quality Act
Apr 4, 2005 by Guest Blogger
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new guidelines for assessing cancer risk March 29 after years of deliberation. These guidelines officially recognize for the first time that children are particularly vulnerable to certain cancer-causing chemicals. However, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), while reviewing the guidelines, inserted two requirements, including that any EPA cancer evaluation meet the standards of the Data Quality Act (DQA), which will have the effect of putting more children at risk.
read in fullPublic Interest Data Quality Appeal Granted by Agency
Mar 25, 2005 by Guest Blogger
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) will correct flawed information about the Florida panther after an agency whistleblower and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed requests under the federal Data Quality Act (DQA). This is one of the few cases in which a public interest group used the DQA. To date, industry has dominated the use of the DQA with challenges seeking to delay, derail and dilute information and regulations about health, safety and the environment.
read in fullData Quality Act Debated
Mar 21, 2005 by Guest Blogger
Data Quality Act experts, featuring OMB Watch’s Sean Moulton, will be debating the faults and merits of the Data Quality Act (DQA) at a March 30 discussion hosted by the Environmental Law Institute (ELI). Among the law’s aspects to be discussed are judicial review, and its implications for environmental protections.
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