So why’re we hunting the Taliban in Afghanistan? Looks like we’ve got our own version right here. I’ve been hearing a lot more about this lately, unfortunately it’s all been from powerless nerds that don’t know the first thing about how to combat such political BS..
The White House distorts science for political ends](The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos)
When is science not science? When politics is added to the mix. The Bush administration has manipulated the scientific process and legitimate scientific conclusions for political ends.
In the Bush administration, non-science parades as science in the service of political or ideological agendas. Undermining scientific research is a dangerous and short-sighted approach to public policy.
The Minority Staff Special Investigations Division of the House Committee on Government Reform prepared a report for Representative Henry Waxman, Democrat of California, entitled, “Politics and Science in the Bush Administration” (www.reform.house.gov/min). The report points out that the public depends “upon federal agencies to promote scientific research and to develop science-based policies that protect the nation’s health and welfare. Historically, these agencies - such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency - have had global reputations for scientific excellence.”
Even leading scientific journals are questioning the scientific integrity of these agencies. This year the editor of Science wrote that there is growing evidence that the Bush administration “invades areas once immune to this kind of manipulation.”
The report identifies more than 20 scientific issues that were manipulated by political or ideological agendas.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention deleted from its Web site all information about condom use and condoms’ effectiveness in preventing sexually transmitted infections.
Reports on global warming issued by the Environmental Protection Agency warning of the risks of climate change were suppressed.
The administration’s use of false information parading as scientific conclusions permeates other areas of public policy: safe drinking water, agricultural pollution, food safety, lead poisoning, workplace safety, substance abuse and reproductive health.
According to the Waxman report, the Bush administration pursues its agendas in three ways: by manipulating scientific advisory committees, by distorting and suppressing scientific information, and by interfering with scientific research and analysis.
Scientific advisory committees, according to the Federal Advisory Committee Act, should be balanced in terms of points of view represented. The act also requires that advice and recommendations “not be inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority or by any special interest.”
The administration ignores the advisory committee law. It dropped three national experts in lead poisoning from the Advisory Committee on Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention and appointed replacements who had ties to the lead industry, including an industry consultant who had testified that a lead level seven times the current limit is safe for children’s brains.
The White House isn’t above distorting and suppressing scientific information. After it edited the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft report on global warming, Agency scientists objected that the draft “no longer accurately represents scientific consensus on climate change.”
The Bush administration has repeatedly interfered with scientific research. To give one example, the White House refused to let the Environmental Protection Agency conduct analyses on air-quality proposals that differ from Bush’s “Clear Skies” initiative.
If a scientific analysis differs from the administration’s viewpoint, the analysis is trashed - and with it good public policy.
Squelching legitimate scientific research jeopardizes public health and safety. The American people rely upon federal agencies to give them the best scientific information available.
The Bush administration’s approach not only compromises the integrity of these agencies, it builds distrust at the grassroots level. Billions of tax dollars are spent by these agencies for research and analysis, but the American public can no longer rely on the scientific accuracy of the information they provide.