NOV 19, 2024 — InsideEPA, a trade publication that reports daily on issues pertaining to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), published a story today about the future of scientific research and development at EPA based on an interview with Chris Frey, who was EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development from 2022 to 2024, and is currently Associate Dean for Research and Infrastructure in the College of Engineering at NC State, as well as a chaired distinguished university professor in environmental engineering.
Frey on Scientific Integrity
Frey said halting ongoing peer review would be “a direct attack on scientific integrity. Peer review is an inherent, normal part of doing science. Any directive that would stop peer review is introducing delay in science and any delay for no scientific reason is contrary to scientific integrity.”
The article covers a variety of issues, including the potential for: politicization of scientific research at EPA, changing critieria for appointments to Agency scientific advisory boards to downplay the importance of relevant scientific expertise, disregarding precedent and legal considerations in conducting and reviewing science, halting of external peer review, embedding political operatives within the mid-level management of EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), a disregard for scientific expertise in appointing ORD political leadership, interference in the science of how dose-response assessments are done, and continued erosion if not substantial cuts to ORD’s resources.
The full article is behind a pay-wall but can be accessed by those at NCSU via lib.ncsu.edu.