Practitioner Insights: Taking the Science out of Federal Science Advisory Boards

摘要

The Trump administration has given new definition to the term "conflict of interest," from political meetings at Trump-owned businesses to cabinet members who may financially benefit from hamstringing the agencies they now lead. In a surprise move last month, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the terms of several members of the Environmental Protection Agency's Board of Scientific Counselors had come to an end and would not automatically be renewed, as is usually the case. They instead would have the chance to reapply along with anyone else interested in serving. The board is a science advisory committee that reviews the agency's research directions. An EPA spokesman confirmed that the academics may be replaced with industry experts who, they claim, better "understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community."