Under fire from industry, scientific panel is ‘gutted’

http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/after-warning-about-toxic-farm-chemical-scientific-panel-gutted-4332

By Amy Standen Center for Investigative Reporting 30 August 2010

Five out of nine members of a scientific panel that advises California on toxic chemicals have been fired in recent weeks, following disputes with the chemical industry and a conservative group that targets environmental laws.

While the Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants is not well known outside of regulatory circles, its work carries clout in state environmental policy. Since its inception in 1983, the panel has evaluated more than 300 chemicals – everything from pesticides to secondhand smoke – and advised the state on how these chemicals should be regulated.

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http://californiawatch.org/watchblog/after-warning-about-toxic-farm-chemical-scientific-panel-gutted-4332

For anyone working on environmental health science who wonders why policy decisions don’t always reflect scientific findings, this is an insightful article It’s about one of the biggest funding sources that opposes environmental regulations based on philosophical commitments to libertarian beliefs. Toward the end there is a section on formaldehyde and cancer. But there is much much more.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer Covert operations. The Koch brothers are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry – especially environmental regulation. And they are putting their enormous wealth behind their beliefs.
http://www.newyorker.com/ New Yorker. 25 August 2010

http://nyr.kr/cUIIvj
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