Tucson, U.S.A. — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules on small particulate-matter air pollutants (PM2.5) cost the economy billions of dollars. The justification for these costly, job-destroying rules is challenged in the winter 2012 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

The EPA claims that tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of Americans die each year because of PM2.5. Such particles, which are smaller in diameter than a human hair, come from natural and man-made sources, including diesel exhaust, forest fires, and dust storms.

However, based on extensive evidence, epidemiologist James Enstrom of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) concluded that there was no increased mortality in California from such exposure during the period 1973 to 2002. Enstrom also blew the whistle on misconduct by scientists and bureaucrats who support more stringent EPA rules.

After 35 years of distinguished service, UCLA is attempting to fire Enstrom and prevent him from presenting his findings to colleagues at UCLA, despite the fact that many other researchers support his work. Enstrom’s persecution appears to be driven by the ideological agenda of environmental activists, writes Jerome Arnett, M.D., in the Journal.

“This problem is not uncommon,” writes Arnett. “Many careers have been destroyed when faculty members challenge established orthodoxy, while many other faculty members have been intimidated from speaking freely.”

With the help of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), Enstrom has filed a lawsuit against University of California regents and several top UCLA officials, alleging violations of his civil rights, including the right to free speech on matters of public concern.

Additional scientific misconduct related to the PM2.5 rule is highlighted in another article in the same issue of the Journal. Even though asserting that PM2.5 at any level can kill within hours of exposure, or possibly cause cancer, EPA is sponsoring experiments in which vulnerable human subjects are exposed to diesel exhaust in an apparatus that some say resembles a gas chamber.

“Some environmentalists seem to have no scruples about silencing critics or experimenting on human beings in studies whose only purpose appears to be to cause harm,” states Jane Orient, M.D., executive director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).

AAPS, a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943, publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons .

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