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Air pollution science under siege at US environment agency

Top EPA adviser attacks agency decision-making ahead of major review of air pollution standards.
  1. Jeff Tollefson
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A quarter of a century of research has shown that breathing in fine airborne particles emitted by cars, power plants and other sources shortens people’s lifespans. But that scientific consensus is now under attack from a top adviser to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), just as the agency is rushing to revise the national air-quality standard for such pollution before the end of President Donald Trump’s first term. Scientists fear that the result could be weaker rules on air pollution that are bad for public health — and based on politics, not science.

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Nature 568, 15-16 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-00937-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 28 March 2019: This story has been updated to reflect several decisions that CASAC made with respect to its draft letter to the EPA during a 28 March meeting.

References

  1. Goldman, G. T. & Dominici, F. Science 363, 1398–1400 (2019).

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  2. Di, Y. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. 376, 2513–2522 (2017).

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