Don't hazard a guess

Philadelphia Inquirer: Government has a duty to keep its citizens safe, especially in times of peril. When terrorists attack, natural disasters strike or hazardous spills occur, citizens look to government to sound an "all clear."
Is it safe to go home? Have the poisons been cleaned up? What is the risk of falling ill years from now? Citizens need honest answers.
They haven't been getting them. When it comes to environmental hazards, the public is largely on its own.
Within days after the 9/11 attacks, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christie Whitman assured New Yorkers it was safe to return home, despite layers of dust everywhere, possibly tainted with cancer-causing asbestos and (PCBs).
On Feb. 2, a federal judge blasted that decision as "conscience-shocking."
"No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to Lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," District Court Judge Deborah A. Batts wrote, allowing a class-action suit to proceed against the EPA and Whitman.
The suit seeks damages for failure to issue warnings about dangerous materials in the air and failure to carry out an adequate cleanup.
'All clear'
Batts' findings echoed a 2003 EPA Inspector General's report, which concluded that Whitman did not have sufficient facts to sound an "all clear." The IG also found that the White House had replaced cautionary statements in EPA news releases with comforting ones.
False reassurances don't help anyone. The public needs factual information, even if it's "we're not sure yet."