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Last week (February 1), a federal judge scrapped a controversial rule that restricted the types of scientific data the Environmental Protection Agency could use to make environmental regulations. Issued on January 5, the policy would have allowed the EPA to ignore or assign less weight to studies based on data that are not publicly available, such as those kept private because they include confidential medical information.
The agency often relies on these types of data to inform regulations aimed at limiting pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals, Science reports.
“[This] is fantastic news. . . . I think this puts a stake through the rule’s heart,” Andrew Rosenberg, the director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, tells Science. “It was a terrible, unjustified idea that never should have plagued us for so long, and the judge recognized that.”
The ...
