Undermining Science: Suppression and Distortion in the Bush Administration
Seth Shulman
Language: English
Pages: 222
ISBN: 0520247027
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In 2001, a group of eminent American scientists affiliated with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) contacted Seth Shulman, an experienced investigative journalist, to look into charges of serious mishandling of scientific information in the current administration. Shulman’s investigation resulted in the groundbreaking report "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policy Making," which served as the basis for a highly publicized UCS scientists' statement accusing the Bush administration of a misuse of science that was signed by dozens of Nobel laureates, National Medal of Science recipients, and members of the National Academy of Sciences. To date, more than 8,000 scientists across the country have signed the statement based upon Shulman’s reporting. This book, drawing upon scores of interviews and including never-released information, goes beyond the UCS report to document the Bush administration's suppression and distortion of science, bringing this issue to a wider audience.
Undermining Science covers:
* The Bush administration’s abuse and misuse of science in areas including stem cell research, AIDS prevention, environmental protection, the Iraq war, the teaching of evolution, and global warming;
* The administration’s use of political litmus tests in selecting administrators for science-based agencies and in selecting scientists on federal advisory committees;
* The dangerous consequences of the Bush administration's war on science for the caliber and integrity of the nation's scientific research.
Shulman explains that, by knowingly misrepresenting and suppressing the truth, the Bush administration broke its covenant with its constituents in the most fundamental way possible, with consequences that reach far beyond the scientific community.
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contraceptives delays the occurrence of teen sex, reduces the frequency of sex, and increases the use of condoms and other contraceptives. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists all support comprehensive sex education programs that encourage abstinence while also providing adolescents with information on how to protect themselves against sexually transmitted
ruling, the agency also cited a 1987 peer-reviewed study of the tristate swan population. However, that study’s principal author says that the agency seriously misinterpreted her findings.21 Ruth Gale Shea, a wildlife biologist and expert on Rocky Mountain trumpeter swans, explains that her research led her to a conclusion opposite to that in the FWS determination; she found that the tristate population of trumpeter swans was notable for its reproductive isolation. “To date,” Shea notes, “there
considerations and the influence of special interests to permeate the traditionally nonpartisan mechanisms through which the government gathers, analyzes, and disseminates information. Reasonable people may well disagree over many of the Bush administration’s political choices. There is, however, a crucial difference between disputes over policy and the manipulation of the policymaking process itself. Partisanship aside, there should be little disagreement about the need for credibility in the
System] with high confidence.” Any such assessment, the report complains, will thus necessarily have to “rely heavily on models and simulations of individual elements.” In addition, the report notes, “The lack of flight-testing has delayed the validation and accreditation of some key performance models and simulations.”28 Even Christie’s relatively mild criticisms have been squelched, however. The Bush administration has quietly removed the past three years’ worth of annual reviews by Christie from
May 12, 2005. 17. McGarvey, “Dr. Hager’s Family Values.” 18. See U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Transcript of the December 16, 2003 Meeting.” 19. Berenson quoted in ibid. See “Facts You Should Know about Teenage Pregnancy,” March of Dimes, March 2002; available at www.marchofdimes.com. 20. Cicely Marston et al, “Impact on Contraceptive Practice of Making Emergency Hormonal Contraception Available over the Counter in Great Britain: Repeated Cross Sectional Surveys,” British Medical Journal,