The Environmental Protection Agency’s “Strengthening Transparency in Pivotal Science” Rule: Don’t Let History Repeat Itself | Annals of the American Thoracic Society

"The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Strengthening Transparency in Pivotal Science” rule, known by its critics as the Censoring Science rule, was enacted in the final days of the Trump administration (1). The rule restricted consideration, for policy purposes, of evidence from scientific studies for which underlying data could not be made publicly available for independent validation and analysis. This rule was widely denounced by public health researchers and organizations, including the American Thoracic Society, for imposing a barrier that could not be realistically met by observational research and for the harmful public health repercussions that could result. The rule eerily resembled past industry-sponsored efforts to block the use of unwelcome science demonstrating the harmful effects of pollutants."