Abstract of paper presented at the National Association of Environmental Professionals 23rd Annual Conference, San Diego, California, June 20-26, 1998

As stated in the NAEP (National Association of Environmental Professionals) Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Environmental Professionals, the "keystone of professional conduct is integrity." This means, among other things, that professionals must be responsible for the validity of their work. This work must be conducted without "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation or discrimination." They must not put professional judgment aside in order to twist facts and/or conclusions to give a client, or a superior, a desired outcome. Further, professional integrity does not stop when a report is signed. There is a continuing responsibility for seeing that a report is not misrepresented by others, or altered to change its data or conclusions.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, Local 2050, representing all 1200 non-management professionals at the headquarters of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has attempted to incorporate a modified version of the NAEP code of ethics into their collective bargaining agreement with EPA. This paper explains the content of this proposal and the event that galvanized this effort - the November, 14, 1985 Federal Register notice setting a health-based standard for fluoride in drinking water.

The NAEP code required some modification to better clarify the role of professionals who provide analyses of issues in a regulatory context, in an agency run by politicians. Regulations require specific scientific endpoints to be defined. Politicians often require analyses that support politically acceptable solutions. This presents a serious dilemma in that professional ethics often take a back seat to political expediency. An enforceable code of ethics is needed to permit honest analysis for decision-making to surface from the professional staff without fear of intimidation or reprisal.

The need for a code of ethics at the Agency has been emphasized time after time since its inception in 1970. This need became critical, in the opinion of the leadership of the professionals’ union, when EPA published the fluoride in drinking water standard in 1985. An investigation by the union revealed that scientific support documents for the health-based standard were invalid. Political decisions were found to have influenced and altered scientific conclusions.

Key words: Code; Environmental Protection Agency; Ethics; Fluoride in drinking water standard; National Association of Environmental Professionals.

Reprints: Dr Robert J Carton, 2455 Ballenger Creek Pike,
Adamstown, MD 21710, USA.

* As of April 20, 1998, EPA professionals are represented by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Chapter 280.

FLUORIDE 31(4),  1998, p 229	International Society for Fluoride Research
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