UCSD Doctor Reinstated on Smoke Study : Health: Tobacco industry still maintains that UCSD Medical Center professor’s stance on secondhand smoke will undermine objectivity of the EPA panel.

A San Diego scientist, taken off an Environmental Protection Agency panel on secondhand smoke at the urging of the tobacco industry, has been reinstated, the EPA said Wednesday. The industry, though, maintains his appointment is a mistake.

The reversal comes a week after Dr. David M. Burns, an associate clinical professor of medicine and pulmonary specialist at UC San Diego Medical Center, had been told he was off the panel, which is reviewing the scientific accuracy of two EPA reports on the effects of passive cigarette smoke on adults, children and people in the workplace.

“I’m pleased they have reconsidered what would have been an unfortunate public policy precedent,” said Burns, an expert on the health risks of involuntary smoking whose outspoken anti-smoking views have made him an enemy of the tobacco industry.

Burns, 43, a former senior editor and reviewer of the surgeon general’s smoking reports and the person who drafted the 1986 report on passive smoking, had been asked in July by the EPA scientific staff to serve on the review committee. An Aug. 10 letter from the agency said he was on the panel and asked him to review the reports, which he did.

Also in August, however, the Tobacco Institute, an industry group, wrote to EPA administrator William Reilly, protesting Burns’ selection and calling him biased. In addition, a letter to the EPA from Rep. Thomas J. Bliley (R-Va.), a strong tobacco industry ally, also called for Burns’ ouster.

Donald Barnes, head of the Science Advisory Board, met with tobacco industry representatives. Last week, Barnes said he decided it was best to have scientists on the review panel who were both qualified--which he acknowledged Burns was--and who didn’t have fervent public views about smoking.

Moreover, Barnes said that, technically, Burns wasn’t off the committee because it hadn’t been named yet, a task done on Wednesday. He acknowledged that the agency had asked Burns to serve.

An EPA spokesman in Washington said Wednesday the decision to put Burns back on the 16-member panel was made late Tuesday at an executive committee meeting of the agency’s Science Advisory Board.

The spokesman said the group was concerned both about the “misunderstanding” over Burns’ status on the panel and the controversy aroused by the tobacco industry.

“The letter from the tobacco industry had, in fact, raised suspicions” about undue industry pressure,” the spokesman said. He said Barnes wanted to “put together a panel that is beyond reproach” and that Burns’ inclusion “hopefully enables us to do that now.”

Burns’ supporters greeted the news of his reinstatement as a victory but cautioned that the debate over the reports is just beginning.

“We had some concerns about the industry being able to dictate who should be on the panel,” said Donald Shopland, coordinator of the National Cancer Institute’s smoking-control program.

“This was a serious flaw in the process,” he said. “This is obviously an area of some contention and debate . . . and we can think of no one better qualified to lead that discussion than Dr. Burns. You need to have some balance . . . (because the industry) will parade their scientists up there. You need someone who knows the data.”

Mark Pertschuk, director of Americans for Non-Smokers’ Rights, said, “The idea that individuals in the EPA might have felt the need to give in to tobacco industry pressure and remove a leading involuntary smoking scientist is really unfortunate. We’re pleased the EPA didn’t give in.”

A spokeswoman for the Tobacco Institute said it was a mistake for the EPA to put Burns on the committee, calling him “prejudiced.”

“The whole idea of the Science Advisory Board is to be objective and fair,” said spokeswoman Brennan Dawson. “The selection of Dr. Burns completely undermines this because he has made it quite clear what his views are by his anti-smoking activities.”

Burns has said that an objective analysis of the scientific record shows there is a clear link between smoking and disease and that the tobacco industry believes the only objective scientists are those who maintain cigarette smoking doesn’t cause health problems.

The review panel is scheduled to meet for two days in early December, he said, adding that there had been “an enormous amount of support” for him as a result of last week’s developments.

“All were outraged that the tobacco industry would be able to do this. The public policy implications were great,” Burns said. He said Barnes called him Tuesday night and told him about his reinstatement.