On January 24, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began a 30-day public comment period on the draft updates to its Scientific Integrity Policy (Policy). 89 Fed. Reg. 4606. EPA states that in accordance with the requirements of the 2021 Presidential Memorandum on Restoring Trust in Government Through Scientific Integrity and Evidence-based Policymaking, it is revising its Policy. The updated Policy will adopt a new federal definition of scientific integrity and “meaningfully strengthen several policy elements that will help ensure a culture of scientific integrity at the Agency.”
EPA notes that it will incorporate the model scientific integrity policy from the National Science and Technology Council’s A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice (2023), lessons learned over the years, and the results of previous surveys of EPA staff on scientific integrity. Comments are due February 23, 2024. Given the central importance of scientific integrity in all that EPA does, we encourage interested parties to provide comments on EPA’s draft Policy. For more information, please read the full memorandum.
