Browsing by Author "Sherwin, Brie D."
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Item Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory: Law, Politics, and Science Denialism in the Era of COVID-19(Texas A&M Law Review, 2021) Sherwin, Brie D.With COVID-19, we are facing the most serious public health threat of our lifetime. Now, more than ever, we need experts and sound scientific advice to guide critical decision-making during the pandemic. With conspiracy theories and other similar rhetorical weapons being used to discredit our scientific experts, we face a myriad of misinformation, mistruths, and all-out attacks on our experts, breeding distrust between the public and the policymakers leading the fight against the pandemic. As President Trump took office, scientists were routinely denigrated and isolated. Furthermore, science denialism has permeated its way up to the highest levels of government, resulting in disastrous public policy decisions that have been detrimental to environmental and public health. Funding was cut for much-needed research on zoonotic-borne diseases, the U.S. government pulled its support from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017, and well-respected scientists were removed from various advisory roles in agencies. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, many of these decisions went unnoticed by the general public. But, in courtrooms over the past thirty years, judges have recognized the danger of fake experts and acted as gatekeepers to ensure that experts are credible and that science is reliable. The use of Daubert in the courtroom has provided judges with a tool for allowing expert testimony that has met certain indicia of reliability, so jurors can focus on making factual determinations instead of judging whether the sources of the expertise should be trusted. Without a similar gatekeeping function in society, citizens must make those determinations on their own. Scientists and advocates of science should employ their own rhetorical methods to restore the credibility and importance of science in protecting our environment and now our health. Change can only truly come from the ground up. Citizens must actually believe that the climate is changing; they must believe that the health advice they are receiving from public health experts is accurate and trustworthy enough to follow. It is time to put science first-we can only do that if we stop science denialism in its tracks and restore resources and trust in our scientific community.Item Organochlorine Pesticide Residues in Caudal Scutes of Belize Morelet’s Crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii)(Journal of Herpetology, 2016) Sherwin, Brie D.; Mudge, Joseph F.; Canas-Carrell, Jaclyn E.; Lanza, Heather A.; Rainwater, Thomas R.; Platt, Steven G.; McMurry, Scott T.; Anderson, Todd A.Historically, Belize has used large quantities of organochlorine (OC) pesticides for agriculture and disease-vector control, yet few tools exist for noninvasive assessment of OC contaminant loads in Belize wildlife. Crocodile caudal (tail) scutes are clipped as a marking technique in wildlife management programs and may also have utility as a minimally invasive, nonlethal technique to assess contaminant burden. We collected caudal scutes from 96 Morelet’s Crocodiles in Belize over 2 yr to analyze scute tissues for OCs and to compare the observed OC concentrations among different scute tissue (fat, cartilage, and muscle) and among crocodiles of different age classes, sexes, and collection locations. Organochlorines of the DDT-type subclass were detected in 72 of 96 crocodiles, with methoxychlor detected in all 72 scutes containing OCs and p,p-DDE, p,p’-DDT, and p,p-DDD detected in 54, 47, and 20 scute samples, respectively. Organochlorines were more-frequently detected in scutes of adult crocodiles, but methoxychlor was occasionally observed in juveniles at concentrations two orders of magnitude higher than observed in adults, suggesting maternal offload of methoxychlor to offspring, greater exposure through juvenile habitat and diet, or both. Organochlorines were detected in crocodiles from all sampling locations with more frequent and higher concentrations observed in crocodiles from lagoon habitats than from river habitats. This study demonstrates that scutes can be used as a nonlethal indicator of OCs present in Morelet’s Crocodiles, a finding which has applications for determining the trophic transfer of OC pesticides through tropical aquatic food webs and for estimating the continuing risk posed to crocodiles and other species by OC pesticides.Item Pride and Prejudice and Administrative Zombies: How Economic Woes, Outdated Environmental Regulations, and State Exceptionalism Failed Flint, Michigan(University of Colorado Law Review, 2017) Sherwin, Brie D.It was just over forty years ago, shortly before the Safe Drinking Water Act was passed, that a group of mothers in the small, sleepy town of Woburn, Massachusetts realized there just may have been a connection between their children’s leukemia and the town’s water supply. They withstood the terrible smell and masked the water’s rancid flavor with orange juice. For months, they inquired, complained, and assembled in hopes that someone in a position of authority would notice what was so obvious to them. And for months, they were dismissed and even ridiculed. Turns out, they were right. It took a lawsuit and years of work by the Environmental Protection Agency, epidemiologists, and lawyers to shine a light on the seriousness of the contamination, the consequences, and the need for regulatory oversight. Fast forward to 2014: A group of concerned mothers begin complaining about the taste and smell of the water in Flint, Michigan. Bringing bottles of brown water with them to assemblies in front of town hall did little to prompt city and state officials to do anything. It took a caring pediatrician and a brave professor to wrangle city, state, and even federal officials into acknowledging the highly toxic levels of lead in the water supply. But this time, more than forty years later, it should have been different. With decades of perspective and what some say are “overreaching” regulations in place, the environmental disaster in Flint should not have happened. This article explores how and why the crisis occurred, despite the safeguards created by the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Lead and Copper Rule of 1991, which were meant to prevent this kind of disaster. This article then argues why the current “action level” for lead concentrations in tap water, which requires public water systems to act to protect the public, is unsafe according to current toxicological and epidemiological data. Finally, this article discuss how the current climate of “state exceptionalism” and lack of federal oversight contributed to the crisis, and suggest regulatory changes to provide a much needed public safety net.Item Regulating Coal Ash Waste In the Trump Era(Stanford Environmental Law Journal, 2017) Sherwin, Brie D.On February 16, 2017, President Trump signed legislation repealing the Stream Protection Rule and touted the move as clearing the way for job growth. By utilizing a rarely-used federal statute, called the Congressional Review Act, the Republican-held Congress voted to kill this new and complex rule meant to address thirty-three-year-old regulations governing the dumping of coal waste in or near streambeds. As the Stream Protection Rule dies, so does scientific support for updated requirements to protect the ecology of waterways near Appalachian communities. This repeal follows the “solid waste classification” given to coal ash waste under Subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in October 2015. The new classification returned power back to states to regulate coal ash disposal, disappointing many environmentalists who argue that states are failing to protect communities from the dangers associated with coal ash impoundments. Environmental protection is facing new challenges with the trending dialogue that involves alternative facts and scientific spin. In this new era of alternative facts and scientific spin, will regulatory rollbacks of environmental regulations truly bring back promised and meaningful job growth in the coal sector? And, what still exists of environmental policies that once balanced the protection of environmental and human health with what was economically feasible? This article examines the diminishing power of federal administrative agencies in protecting the environment. This article also argues that the superficial comparison of job growth with environmental protection is flawed and explains the ever-increasing importance of science in policymaking and the regulatory process. Finally, the article argues that state primacy is largely set up to fail in this scenario because states are either ill equipped or unmotivated when it comes to enforcing regulations involving coal waste.Item The Upside Down: A New Reality for Science at the EPA and Its Impact on Environmental Justice(N.Y.U. Environmental Law Journal, 2019) Sherwin, Brie D.This Article argues that when the institution charged by Congress with protecting the country's environmental and human health systematically diminishes the role of scientists in policymaking, reduces transparency, and vows to end the war on industry, it has arguably failed in its mission. And, as a result, this agency will no longer be able to protect the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems. When science is methodically removed from the equation by those who are closest to industry, environmental protection is reduced to a ghostly existence where pollution will go unchecked, and the environment will be an echo of what it once was: a darker version of reality-or the upside down. And, the first to suffer will be those who have historically been subjected to environmental discrimination with little attention. These populations have been those of color: African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian and Pacific Islanders who disproportionately live and work in the most polluted environments.