EPA scientists complain about political pressure（附中文翻譯）

怎麼如此重要的新聞，中文傳媒也隻字不提？取自4月23日的美聯社新聞：

EPA scientists complain about political pressure

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer
Wed Apr 23, 6:32 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have been pressured by superiors to skew their findings, according to a survey released Wednesday by an advocacy group.

The Union of Concerned Scientists said more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar attributed some of the discontent to the "passion" scientists have toward their work. He said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, as a longtime career scientist at the EPA himself, "weighs heavily the science given to him by the staff in making policy decisions."

But Francesca Grifo, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program, said the survey results revealed "an agency in crisis" and "under siege from political pressures" especially among scientists involved in risk assessment and crafting regulations.

"The investigation shows researchers are generally continuing to do their work, but their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write regulations," said Grifo.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a letter sent Wednesday to Johnson, called the survey results disturbing and said they "suggest a pattern of ignoring and manipulating science." He said he planned to pursue the issue at an upcoming hearing by his Oversight and Government Reform Committee where Johnson is scheduled to testify.

The group sent an online questionnaire to 5,500 EPA scientists and received 1,586 responses, a majority of them senior scientists who have worked for the agency for 10 years or more. The survey included chemists, toxicologists, engineers, geologists and experts in the life and environmental sciences.

The report said 60 percent of those responding, or 889 scientists, reported personally experiencing what they viewed as political interference in their work over the last five years. Four in 10 scientists who have worked at the agency for more than a decade said they believe such interference has been more prevalent in the last five years than in the previous five years.

Timothy Donaghy, one of the report's co-authors, acknowledged that a large number of scientists did not respond to the survey and said the findings should not be viewed as a random sample of EPA scientists.

Nevertheless, said Donaghy, "we have hundreds of scientists saying there is a problem" with assuring scientific integrity within the federal government's principal environmental regulatory agency.

Asked to respond to the survey, EPA spokesman Shradar said, "We have the best scientists in the world at EPA."

The EPA has been under fire from members of Congress on a number of fronts including its delay in determining whether carbon dioxide should be regulated to combat global warming. Johnson also has been criticized for rejecting recommendations from science advisory boards on a number of air pollution issues including control of mercury from power plants and how much to reduce smog pollution.

In the survey, the EPA scientists described an agency suffering from low morale as senior managers and the White House Office of Management and Budget frequently second-guess scientific findings and change work conducted by EPA's scientists, the report said.

The survey covered employees at EPA headquarters, in each of the agency's 10 regions around the country and at more than a dozen research laboratories. The highest number of complaints about political interference came from scientists who are directly involved in writing regulations and those who conduct risk assessments such as determining a chemical cancer risk for humans.

Nearly 400 scientists said they had witnessed EPA officials misrepresenting scientific findings, 284 said they had seen the "selective or incomplete use of data to justify a specific regulatory outcome" and 224 scientists said they had been directed to "inappropriately exclude or alter technical information" in an EPA document.

Nearly 200 of the respondents said they had been in situations where they or their colleagues actively objected to or resigned from projects "because of pressure to change scientific findings."

Donaghy said EPA management was aware of the survey, conducted by the Center for Survey Statistics & Methodology at Iowa State University. He said while some EPA managers initially instructed employees not to participate, the EPA's general counsel's office later sent an e-mail to employees saying they could participate on their private time.

既然沒有中文譯文，我只好翻譯一份：

環保局科學家投訴受政治壓力

一個組織在星期三公佈的一項調查顯示，數以百計〔美國〕環境保護局（Environmental Protection Agency；下稱EPA）科學家說，他們受過上級要求扭曲他們的研究結果的壓力。

掛慮的科學家聯盟（the Union of Concerned Scientists；下稱UCS）說，近1600名回應了一個詳細的網上問卷調查的環保局科學家中，多於半數表示他們在工作中經歷過政治干預。

環保署發言人喬納森（Jonathan Shradar）把部分不滿歸因於科學家們對他們的工作的「熱情」。他說，環保局管理員斯蒂芬約翰遜（Stephen Johnson），身為環保局長期的職業科學家之一， 「在決策時著重〔科學家〕交給他的科學〔研究資料〕」。

但UCS的科學廉正計劃（Scientific Integrity Program）的主任弗朗西絲（Francesca Grifo）說調查結果顯示「〔EPA〕在危機中」和「被政治壓力圍困」 ，特別是在涉及風險評估和製訂條例的科學家之間。

「調查結果顯示，研究人員通常是繼續做他們的工作，但他們的科學發現在編寫條例時被忽略，」 Grifo說。

眾議員亨利韋克斯曼（Henry Waxman）在星期三致約翰遜的信中，稱調查結果令人不安，又說調查結果「暗示一個無視和操縱科學的慣常做法」 。他說他會在約翰遜將作證的監督及政府改革委員會（Oversight and Government Reform Committee）上跟進此問題。

〔UCS〕發出了一個網上問卷調查給 5500名EPA的科學家及收到1586的回應。〔回應者〕大部分是任職10年或以上的資深科學家。調查包括化學家，毒理學家，工程師，地質學家和生物及環境科學的專家。

報告說60%受訪者，即889的科學家，報稱過去五年內在工作中經歷過他們認為的政治干擾。每10名在〔EPA〕工作超過十載的科學家中有4名認為這種干預在過去五年比之前的五年更普遍。

該報告的作者之一提摩太（Timeothy Donaghy）承認〔在EPA工作的〕科學家中，沒有回應調查的佔多數，並表示調查結果不應被看作是對EPA的科學家的隨機抽樣。

不過， Donaghy說：「我們有數以百計的科學家說〔EPA內關於科學廉正的問題〕存在」。

被問及該調查時，EPA發言人Shradar說：「EPA有的是世界頂尖的科學家。」

環保局已在若干事情上受批評，包括它延誤決定是否應規管二氧化碳〔的排放〕以壓抑全球暖化。約翰遜也因否決諮詢委員會對空氣污染的建議（包括控制發電廠的水銀排放和減少煙霧污染）而受批評。

調查中，EPA的科學字形容（上司和白宮管理和預算辦公室經常猜疑和更改他們的科學發現）令局內士氣低落。

調查涵蓋EPA總部、它在10個區域的分部及一眾研究實驗室。對政治干預投訴最多的是直接涉及製定條例和評估風險（如評估化學物對人類的致癌風險）的科學家。

近400名受訪者表示曾目擊環保局官員歪曲科學發現。284名表示曾看到「對數據選擇性或不完整地使用以支持某個規管結果」。224名素示曾被指示在EPA的文件中「不適當地排除或改變技術資料」。

近二百名受訪者表示曾遇上他們或他們的同事「因為要求改變科學發現的壓力」而對計劃積極反對或辭職的情況。

Donaghy說， EPA的管理層知悉此項由愛荷華州立大學的調查統計與方法研究中心作的調查。他說起初有些EPA主管指示員工不要參與〔該問卷調查〕，但後來EPA的常務決策辦公室發出電郵說員工可以在私人時間參與。

註：UCS的新聞稿及報告