Environmental Experts On Fertilizer Pollution Part 2

Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson says a federal judge erred in concluding that two environmental experts in a federal lawsuit against Arkansas poultry companies were not reliable. Poultry companies' attorneys claimed the work of Harwood and Olsen failed to pass the so-called Daubert test, a way judges scrutinize expert witnesses' work before it's presented to juries.

A 1993 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc. suggested judges look closely at the scientific evidence of expert witnesses that is meant for juries and encouraged judges to consider whether the work was published in scientific journals and subjected to peer scrutiny.

Harwood and Olsen testified they tracked fecal bacteria and chemical components of poultry litter as it moved from poultry farms to streams. Witnesses who testified for the poultry companies said they doubted the researchers could track litter or its components accurately.

Excerpted from NWAnews.com.