Fostering Scientific Integrity | Center for Effective Government

EPA's New HERO Defends the Public's Right to Know

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently launched a new online database that provides access to the scientific studies used in making key regulatory decisions. The EPA released the Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO) database on March 24. According to the agency, this action "is part of the [Obama administration's] open government directive to conduct business with transparency, participation, and collaboration."

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More Action Is Needed to Improve Recovery Act Data Quality

The Recovery Act may be a great step forward for spending transparency, but it is also exposing the problems of obtaining quality recipient reporting. Two new government reports show that recent revisions and additions to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rules on recipient reporting are not necessarily "magic bullets" for addressing reporting errors. The reports also make clear that ensuring that recipients have a clear understanding of existing guidance is a crucial aspect of any data quality improvement effort.

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Scientists Recommend Ways to Restore Scientific Integrity to Government

On March 3, the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) released the results of a two-year research effort to explore the working environment of federal scientists in the public health and environmental fields. The results showed that not only is there political interference in their work, but that scientists also faced a series of obstacles that delay the study and dissemination of scientific information that affects the public every day.

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Transparency: Change You can Trust

In 2008, we heard a lot about "change." In this 2009 year-end summary, we use another type of "change" to rate the Obama administration's transparency efforts thus far.

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OSHA Misses Injuries and Illnesses, GAO Says

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cannot adequately verify lost-time injury and illness cases reported by employers, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Although injury and illness rates for workers have been declining in recent years, critics say the improvement has more to do with OSHA data collection procedures than occupational safety and health policy.

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OMB Role in EPA Chemical Program Questioned

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has repeatedly inserted itself in the development of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program designed to study the effects of chemicals on human and animal endocrine systems.

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Obama Administration Joins Roadless Rule Battle

In an Aug. 13 filing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reserved its right to appeal a district court ruling and support the 2001 roadless rule that protects millions of acres of forest land. If the district court ruling striking down the rule is allowed to stand, it would conflict with a recent appeals court decision upholding the roadless rule. The administration's support for the roadless rule could bring years of conflict over the rule's status to an end.

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California Seeks to Add New Chemicals to Prop. 65 List

California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is proposing to add 30 chemicals linked to reproductive harm and cancer to the state's Proposition 65 list. Proposition 65, a statute passed by California voters in 1986, requires the state to list chemicals known to cause public health problems and bars some actions that could expose people to the substances.

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EPA Regains Control of Toxic Chemical Studies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is changing the way it studies the health effects of industrial chemicals in an attempt to quicken the pace at which new assessments are completed and to limit political interference in the scientific process.

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EPA Plans to Listen to Scientists Again

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced it will increase the influence of scientists and the level of transparency in setting standards for common air pollutants, a reversal of a Bush administration policy that politicized scientific analyses. Clean air advocates are welcoming the policy reversal as a restoration of the role of science in crafting policies that impact environmental and public health.

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