Oh, no! Science!

REPUBLICANS ON THE House Science Committee are accusing Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, of lobbying. In letters sent to the Inspector General and acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Reps. Lamar Smith and Andy Biggs wrote that they were “conducting oversight” of Birnbaum’s activity in response to a editorial she wrote in a scientific journal.

[...]

Biggs and Smith, who have both received money from Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil, and other companies that have a financial interest in limiting research on the environmental effects of chemicals, noted that their “committee suspects this activity may be a violation of the anti-lobbying act.” The two Republican members of Congress also called on the DHHS Inspector General to analyze their concerns so that he might “launch a full-scale review of the situation.”

  The Intercept

My god. What did she do?

Birnbaum’s editorial, which the journal PLOS Biology published in December, addressed the gaps in the regulation of toxic chemicals. Though there are more than 85,000 chemicals approved for use in commerce, she noted in the piece, “U.S. policy has not accounted for evidence that chemicals in widespread use can cause cancer and other chronic diseases, damage reproductive systems, and harm developing brains at low levels of exposure once believed to be harmless.”

Birnbaum called for more research on the risks posed by chemicals and, in the sentence that the representatives appear to consider lobbying, noted that “closing the gap between evidence and policy will require that engaged citizens — both scientists and non-scientists — work to ensure that our government officials pass health-protective policies based on the best available scientific evidence.”

Scandalous! Investigate that woman!

This isn’t the first time the House Science Committee has gone after Birnbaum for bringing attention to environmental science that raises the need for increased regulation. In 2013, then-committee Chairs Larry Bucshon and Paul Broun, expressed outrage about a 2012 article, in which she described the harms of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.

[...]

[Smith, a] Texas representative, who has also aggressively attacked climate science and climate scientists, has promoted legislation that would essentially replace independent scientists with industry representatives on Environmental Protection Agency advisory boards; the EPA has since implemented that policy.

[...]

Smith’s committee has also taken aim at a program at the heart of EPA’s ability to regulate chemicals – holding a hearing in September about the Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS, a division of the EPA that evaluates the toxicity of substances. The 2018 Senate Appropriations Bill has since proposed eliminating IRIS and giving its workload to another division of the EPA, a move that some environmental scientists fear would weaken seriously undermine the program.

I think that's the point.

Scientists have a responsibility to speak up in such cases, the author, Leonardo Trasande, argued. But his encouragement to his colleagues came with a warning: “Scientists who raise their voices should be prepared to face criticism from those who have substantial vested interests.”

Dig up Rachel Carson and ask her.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.