Hey, I'm Flora Lickman, and this is Science Friday.

Today in the podcast, an EPA career veteran reacts to the news of an EPA science office closing.

People are taking for granted that they can have clean air to breathe, that they have safe communities to live in.

And I'm worried that with some of these changes, we run the risk of sliding backwards.

Last week, the EPA announced it's shuttering the agency's scientific research arm,

the Office of Research and Development, aka ORD. Since the agency's scientific research arm, the Office of Research and Development, aka

ORD. Since the agency was founded nearly 55 years ago, it's always had in-house scientists

researching things like pollutants in our air and water and the safety of chemicals that

were all exposed to. That research is used to inform the EPA's guidelines and standards.

Now the agency is dissolving that office. Here to discuss is Dr. Jennifer Orm-Zavalletta.

She spent more than 40 years at the EPA. When she retired in 2021, she was a senior research

leader in the Office of Research and Development.

Jennifer, welcome to Science Friday.

Hi, Flora. Thank you.

Okay, so give us an example of what this office does in real life.

Like, are there cases you remember researching that gives us an idea of what the Office of Research and Development does.

So the Office of Research and Development, as you said earlier, is really there to help provide the science and information to inform agency decisions. But it also helps to solve

environmental problems. Over its 55-year history, there's been research on lead,

there's been research on drinking water contaminants, whether there are microorganisms, or

understanding, as you mentioned, what kinds of chemicals are out there, what we're exposed to,

and what would be safe limits for those exposures.

ORD also provided a whole lot of technical assistance to states, to tribes, and to communities

...