"Science-for-Hire" . . From Asbestos to Pesticides to Pork
Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:49 amFrom Asbestos to Pesticides to Pork
[ http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/12/exponent/ ]
Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent
By Myron Levin and Paul Feldman on December 13, 2016
EXCERPT: (**** Several LINKS throughout article . . . )
Honeybee deaths
Even as the European Commission was halting use of a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids as a likely culprit in massive honeybee deaths, a 2014 paper [ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24692231 ] by Exponent scientists found “no clear indication” that these or other pesticides “are the root cause of such losses.” The work was sponsored by Bayer Crop Science, a top producer of neonicotinoids, which also funded Exponent to host an expert workshop on bee deaths. Exponent’s written summary of the workshop said neonicotinoids “were judged to be ‘unlikely’ as the sole cause of this reduced survival, although they could possibly be a contributing factor.” [ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3869053/ ]
Dow AgroSciences and the trade group CropLife America enlisted Exponent to challenge a pending EPA proposal to bar use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. The proposal stems from concern by the agency and farm worker and environmental groups that residues on crops and in rural water supplies could cause neurodevelopmental effects in children [ http://www.fairwarning.org/wp-content/u ... yrifos.pdf ] , including reduced IQs. In at least five published articles and a series of technical comments to the EPA, Exponent scientists have questioned the rationale for tougher restrictions. “Overall, the available evidence does not establish that low-level exposures…cause adverse birth outcomes or neurodevelopmental problems in humans,” a 2015 paper said. [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3 ... ode=itxc20 ]
Or, as senior managing scientist Ellen Chang in April told an EPA scientific advisory panel [ https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/fi ... inutes.pdf ] in quintessential Exponent-speak: “I wouldn’t say that we can absolutely reject a causal conclusion, but … the persisting questions give us insufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between chlorpyrifos and these neurodevelopmental outcomes.”
MORE:
[ http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/12/exponent/ ]
[ http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/12/exponent/ ]
Big Companies in Legal Scrapes Turn to Science-for-Hire Giant Exponent
By Myron Levin and Paul Feldman on December 13, 2016
EXCERPT: (**** Several LINKS throughout article . . . )
Honeybee deaths
Even as the European Commission was halting use of a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids as a likely culprit in massive honeybee deaths, a 2014 paper [ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24692231 ] by Exponent scientists found “no clear indication” that these or other pesticides “are the root cause of such losses.” The work was sponsored by Bayer Crop Science, a top producer of neonicotinoids, which also funded Exponent to host an expert workshop on bee deaths. Exponent’s written summary of the workshop said neonicotinoids “were judged to be ‘unlikely’ as the sole cause of this reduced survival, although they could possibly be a contributing factor.” [ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3869053/ ]
Dow AgroSciences and the trade group CropLife America enlisted Exponent to challenge a pending EPA proposal to bar use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. The proposal stems from concern by the agency and farm worker and environmental groups that residues on crops and in rural water supplies could cause neurodevelopmental effects in children [ http://www.fairwarning.org/wp-content/u ... yrifos.pdf ] , including reduced IQs. In at least five published articles and a series of technical comments to the EPA, Exponent scientists have questioned the rationale for tougher restrictions. “Overall, the available evidence does not establish that low-level exposures…cause adverse birth outcomes or neurodevelopmental problems in humans,” a 2015 paper said. [ http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3 ... ode=itxc20 ]
Or, as senior managing scientist Ellen Chang in April told an EPA scientific advisory panel [ https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/fi ... inutes.pdf ] in quintessential Exponent-speak: “I wouldn’t say that we can absolutely reject a causal conclusion, but … the persisting questions give us insufficient evidence to establish a causal relationship between chlorpyrifos and these neurodevelopmental outcomes.”
MORE:
[ http://www.fairwarning.org/2016/12/exponent/ ]