Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

By Douglas Main

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s inspector general concluded in a report released this week that three government scientists who filed disquieting complaints about their work within the agency under the Trump administration were indeed improperly treated.

The report concluded that the EPA scientists experienced retaliation for speaking out and scientifically disagreeing with leadership and others in the agency.

Most of the scientists had spoken out, internally, about disagreements concerning the safety of various chemicals, which was part of their work within the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.

Among their concerns, the scientists claimed that the EPA was not doing enough to protect the public from health risks of multiple substances, and that industry pressure was affecting the agency’s ability to do its job properly.

The report notes that one scientist sought to classify a certain unidentified chemical as having “reproductive toxicity,” only for a senior advisor to remove this wording.

In response to the scientists’ disagreeing and speaking out, the EPA reassigned them, skipped them over for promotion, and generally harassed them, calling them “piranhas,” “problematic,” or “pot-stirrers,” according to the complaints.  A copy of the employees’ complaint that identified them by name was sent around to senior leaders and individuals mentioned in the complaint, including former coworkers, according to the inspector general’s report.

“The Inspector General’s findings point to ongoing scientific integrity problems in EPA that directly endanger public health,” Kyla Bennett, a former EPA attorney and scientist who is now the science policy director for the watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which helped file three of the complaints, said in a statement.