EPA Chief Defends Use Of Undisclosed Data

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy last week struck back at critics who describe health data that the agency used in establishing some pollution control regulations as “secret science.” “It’s not really about EPA science or secrets,” she said at the National Academy of Sciences’ annual meeting. “It’s about claiming that research is secret if researchers protect confidential personal health data from those who are not qualified to analyze it—and who won’t agree to protect it.” Some congressional Republicans have assailed EPA for relying on data that have not been publicly disclosed (C&EN, April 14, page 21). One of those lawmakers, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), said in response to McCarthy, “It is inexcusable for EPA to justify billions of dollars of economically significant regulations on science that is kept hidden from independent reanalysis and congressional oversight.”