EPA Reinstates Anti-Smoking Scientist

A scientist here who was removed from 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 that it is a mistake.

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

“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, was asked in July by the EPA scientific staff to serve on the review committee.

However, in August, 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.

Last week, Donald Barnes, head of the Science Advisory Board, said he decided to remove Burns, preferring panelists who had not formed fervent views on smoking.

An EPA spokesman in Washington said the decision to return Burns to the 16-member panel was made late Tuesday.

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.

But a spokeswoman for the Tobacco Institute called the reinstatement a mistake.

“The whole idea of the Science Advisory Board is to be objective and fair,” said 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.”