EPA Witchdoctors Get No Peace

A coalition of unions representing U.S. EPA scientists and other specialists sent a letter to EPA chief Stephen Johnson on Wednesday asserting that agency managers and pesticide industry officials are exerting political pressure to allow the continued use of organophosphates and carbamates, which are used in many industrial pesticides. The letter complains that EPA scientists are being pushed to skip steps in their regulatory testing of the chemicals, arguing that "the integrity of the science upon which agency decisions are based has been compromised."

This is rich. The methodology being employed by the EPA to ascertain human health risks for these and other chemical substances has long been discredited by academics, who, at best, suggest that it holds promise but has a long way to go, or, at worst, suggest that it is akin to astrology or palm reading. If the environmental Left were serious about allowing scientific concensus to dictate federal policy (a proposition they ardently embrace when the topic turns to global warming), the tests at issue would have been junked long ago.

But by all means, let's not disturb the witchdoctors!