Statement of CSPI president Dr. Peter G. Lurie

President-elect Biden and Michael Regan, his nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, already have a long list of Trump-era actions to reverse. That list became one item longer today with the publication of a rule that, under the cynical guise of “strengthening transparency,” would actually severely limit the scientific evidence the agency could use in its policy deliberations.

Make no mistake: this is a bad-faith exercise aimed at making life easier for polluters. We never would have eliminated lead from gasoline or declared second-hand smoke a carcinogen if government scientists were prohibited from consulting non-public studies or data. In fact, the record is replete with studies that formed the basis of health- and life-saving regulations that would now be precluded from use. This ill-conceived rule would be a step backward and dilute hard-won gains we have made in public health.

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