Science under the current administration

Posted by tomo at 10:58 PM in government . | 3 Comments

James Glanz for the New York Times has published two stories in as many days about documents released by a group of influential scientists which included 20 Nobel laureates. The first, published yesterday in the science section is titled "Scientists Accuse White House of Distorting Facts". Today, he took the bulk of that article, re-using many paragraphs without change and inserted new quotes in response to the report, published now in the Washington/politics section as "Scientists Say Administration Distorts Facts". The charge:

repeatedly censoring and suppressing reports by its own scientists, stacking advisory committees with unqualified political appointees, disbanding government panels that provide unwanted advice, and refusing to seek any independent scientific expertise in some cases.

Is it just scientists and Nobel laureates who are concerned about the state of science under the Bush administration? No. Last August the U.S. House of Representatives put out a report after investigating issues like "manipulation of scientific committees", "distortion of public information", and "interference with scientific research". What they found: Replacing an analysis disspelling a link between abortions and breast cancer with outdated information that said "Some studies have reported significant evidence of an increased risk of breast cancer in women who have had abortions", making abstinence-only education appear effective by no longer tracking effectiveness as well as removing information about the effectiveness of condoms, and appointing an anti-RU486 conservative religious activist to chair the FDA’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. That's just on the single issue of women's health. Their overall conclusion:

The Bush Administration, however, has repeatedly suppressed, distorted, or obstructed science to suit political and ideological goals. These actions go far beyond the traditional influence that Presidents are permitted to wield at federal agencies and compromise the integrity of scientific policymaking.