CRUNCHING DATA.

The article reports that the U.S. National Research Council's Committee of Models in the Regulatory Decision-Making Process is studying how the Environmental Protection Agency should select and use models for regulatory decisions. These models can help legislators determine the cleanup level for a particular chemical. It can also predict how pollutants move through the environment. Others are used to estimate the costs and benefits of proposed new regulations. Other parties interested in the models include the public and lobbying groups.