Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlelady, my good friend from Texas, and I rise in opposition to this legislation. The bill concerns me, not only about the interference with protection of public health, but also the harm it would do to science and the science process. In sum, H.R. 4012 would prohibit the EPA from using any scientific studies that are not publicly available and cannot be independently reproduced. Now, while this sounds virtuous and laudable, it is, at best, a blatant misunderstanding of how scientists operate, of the peer review process, and a violation of health privacy laws and an affront to science. Now, I see the other side saying, oh, no, it is not a violation of health privacy laws because anything that violates the health privacy laws won't be used. Well, that is the point. Mr. Chairman, I will enter into the Record a letter from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, dated November 4, which says, ``the proposed legislation is so broad that it could be used to prevent the implementation of nearly any regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency.'' These are not partisans who are talking about this. These are people who want the science used so that we have good regulations. They are not trying to interfere with EPA's work. Consider epidemiology. This is the science that investigates the patterns in disease and health, like trying to understand the spread of diseases like Ebola, or in understanding why smoking causes cancer.…”