EPA Scientists claim White House interference

A Union of Concerned Scientists, UCS, survey of Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, scientists, has discovered that around sixty percent of the scientific workforce felt that they were experiencing interference of a political nature with regard to what they considered to be scientific matters, while working for the EPA since 2003.

Several hundred of the EPA’s government employed scientists said that they had been pressurized by management to alter their findings. The UCS stated that one thousand six hundred EPA employed scientists responded to an internet questionnaire sent out by the orgaisation and nearly sixty percent claimed that they had been the victims of interference of a political nature in their work.

Furthermore, eighteen percent of the respondents claimed that this interference was either frequent or occasional, and involved the changing, or editing of findings during their review stage, in order to manipulate the conclusions of the findings.

When asked if they considered they were allowed to interact freely with the media, over fifty percent responded that this was definitely not the case.

The EPA is apparently not alone when it comes to perceived government interference in scientific findings. At the Atlanta headquarters of the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, allegations of pressure and interference, in the areas of research into threats to the environment, have been circulating for several years. Although the controllers at the organization have strongly denied the allegations.

The UCS survey indicates that researchers at the EPA were not the subject of political manipulation. Conversely, scientists at the EPA’s National Center for Environmental Assessment felt that there was significant interference when it came to creating legal regulations.

Most of the respondents had been engaged in EPA work for in excess of ten years and were senior scientists. In addition the findings included conclusions drawn from several dozen interviews with both existing, and former, EPA scientific staff.

Most of the respondents who claimed interference, pointed the finger at the OMB, White House’s Office of Management and Budget. They are said to exert considerable control over the EPA’s decision making processes, including the use of their own scientists, who it is claimed are involved in the review of EPA findings and are accused of the distortion of those conclusions.