OSHA firing attempt called scientific muffling

A shift to the right in political winds not only swept Ronald Reagan into office but is propelling his plan to whittle down the federal bureaucracy and to cut back on regulations. Six months into his term, critics are charging that the Administration's zeal for regulatory reform is really a cover for replacing present programs with industry-favored schemes. Critics also are saying that this purported reform is stifling free exchange of information between government scientists and their peers outside the federal establishment. The same winds that swept Reagan into office apparently are carrying the scent of intimidation—a scent now being picked up and analyzed in the halls of Congress. Rep. Albert Gore Jr. (D.-Tenn.) began this examination by conducting hearings on the Peter F. Infante/Occupational Safety & Health Administration affair. Infante, director of OSHA's office of carcinogen identification and classification, received a letter from his boss, Bailus Walker, late in June proposing his "removal ...