PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formally with EPA, said the cuts amounted to the EPA “abandoning its status as a premier scientific organization.”
“Scientific research is vital to EPA’s core mission of protecting public health and the environment, but that mission is quickly eroding,” she said in a PEER press statement.
PEER warned that the cuts would make the EPA more dependent on research from chemical companies, which may be incentivized to hide the harmful effects of certain chemicals, and will force the agency to abandon ongoing research that relies on lab animals.
