EPA asked to stop barring employees from sharing scientific findings with each other

Read the full story in Government Executive.

A group is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to scrap a directive that prohibits some scientists from discussing their work amongst themselves, saying the current system prevents workers from properly protecting the public from potentially hazardous materials. 

Managers at EPA began instituting the policy in early 2020, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which wrote to the agency asking for its revocation. The ban affects the New Chemicals Division in EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which conducts reviews of new materials before they are cleared for use in commercial products as required by the Toxic Substances Control Act.