This week, EPA Administration Pruitt announced a new EPA policy regarding who is eligible to serve on the agency’s scientific advisory committees.  The new rules prohibit scientists with active EPA grants from being eligible to serve on the EPA’s advisory committee.  The new rules do not prohibit industry employees or industry funded scientists from serving on EPA panels. 

EPA Administrator Pruitt’s announcement is a follow up to his earlier comments to the Heritage Foundation, where he questioned “the independence, and the veracity and the transparency of those recommendations that are coming our way” from scientists who have received EPA research funding. 

In response to the policy, ATS President Marc Moss, MD, said, “I take great exception to Administrator Pruitt’s questioning the “veracity” of EPA funded scientists.  Many ATS members are respected academics who receive EPA funding for their scientific rigor.  To suggest that being a successful scientist now impugns your integrity and your ability to provide scientific advice turns the concept of conflict of interest on its head.”