RESEARCH DISCLOSURE: Chamber of Commerce Tests Law
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce yesterday filed requests under the Freedom of Information Act seeking confidential research data from the Harvard School of Public Health and other sources, in order to test a law allowing public access to data produced with the aid of federal research grants, the Boston Globe reports. The business group expects the requests to be denied by the EPA, which cited the data in developing new environmental regulations, and plans to file a lawsuit in response, challenging an October ruling by the Office of Management and Budget that limited the information researchers would have to release under the law. The OMB ruling had relieved researchers, who worried that the law, known as the Shelby amendment, would force them to violate confidentiality agreements and lead to a chill on research. A Harvard professor charged that the information requests are part of an effort by industry groups to stifle research that could produce findings inimical to their interests (Zitner, 12/10).
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