Uproar over EPA’s plan to ban its grantees from science committees

Scott Pruitt

Source: Gage Skidmore/Wikipedia

EPA chief says members of its scientific advisory panels get ‘millions of dollars’ in grants from the agency, which poses conflicts of interest

A forthcoming US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directive that will ban scientists from serving on any of its scientific advisory committees if their research is funded by the agency could mean a decline in evidence led regulations, the academic research community is warning. Scientists have called the move ridiculous, adding that it is precisely because these scientists are working on EPA funded research that they are best placed to advise on regulatory issues.