GMW:_'sound_science':_turning_a_deaf_ear_to_reality

[Guest guest]

> GMW:_'sound_science':_turning_a_deaf_ear_to_reality

> " GM_WATCH " <info

> Wed, 14 Jul 2004 11:42:34 +0100

 

>

> GM WATCH daily

> http://www.gmwatch.org

> ------

> David Schubert has also raised concerns about GM

> crops:

> A Different Perspective on GM Food

> by Prof David Schubert, Nature, Vol 20, No10 p. 969

>

http://www.biotech-info.net/different_perspective.html

> ------

> Bush's 'sound science'

> Turning a deaf ear to reality

> San Diego Union-Tribune

> 9-7-04

> By David Schubert

>

> The foundation of our modern society and its

> continued existence is dependent upon our scientific

> understanding of the world around us.

>

> During the last three years, we have witnessed an

> unprecedented assault by the executive branch of our

> government upon the ability of U.S. scientists to

> freely share their data and insights about our world

> with the public. Much of the justification for this

> repression of scientific communication falls under

> the Orwellian concept of " sound science, " which is

> clearly understood by the scientific community to

> mean the misrepresentation of scientific data to

> reflect the administration's

> political and social agendas.

>

> This political manipulation of U.S. science began

> well below the level of public awareness within days

> after the current administration took office.

> Highly respected scientists on dozens of advisory

> committees were replaced with individuals who

> promote the sound science defined by industry and

> the religious right.

>

> The concept of sound science, not to be confused

> with good science, was coined by Newt Gingrich and

> the incoming 1994 Republican Congress as part

> of an effort to bypass regulatory hurdles. Sound

> science required endless analysis and an extreme

> burden of proof of harm before anything could be

> regulated by federal agencies such as the

> Environmental Protection Agency. However, the

> legislation proposed by this group was never made

> into law.

>

> Now that the Republicans are in total control of the

> government, the promises of sound science are coming

> to fruition. The egregious censorship and

> interference with independent scientific inquiry by

> the Bush administration were explicitly documented

> on a case-by-case basis in a recent report published

> by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The report

> was endorsed by over 60 Nobel prize winners and

> leading scientists.

>

> During the last few weeks, the administration has

> added to this list an unprecedented series of

> declarations that have the potential to even more

> seriously affect public health and safety.

>

> First, they have demanded the power to approve all

> U.S. scientists who sit on World Health Organization

> committees. The WHO is the public health arm of the

> United Nations responsible for coordinating

> responses to epidemics like SARS and eradicating

> diseases such as smallpox. It also

> makes recommendations on environmental and

> industrial threats. The WHO's expert panels have

> historically been made up of the very best

> scientists chosen on the basis of expertise and

> merit, not political ideology.

>

> Second, the U.S. Department of Health and Human

> Services blocked the travel of over 150 U.S.

> scientists to the International AIDS Conference to

> be held in Bangkok next week. Many believe that

> this is because the organizer of the conference

> refused a request by U.S. officials to invite

> the Rev. Franklin Graham, the evangelist Billy

> Graham's son, as the keynote speaker to promote

> faith-based approaches to the global AIDS epidemic.

>

> Third, in the name of sound science, the U.S.

> Department of Agriculture denied the Creekstone

> Farms slaughterhouse in Kansas a request to test all

> of its cattle for mad cow disease. The testing was

> an effort by Creekstone to promote the sale of its

> beef to Japan, where all cattle are routinely

> tested.

>

> The most likely reason for the denial of this

> increased safety precaution is that the government

> fears additional cases of the disease will be found,

> for only a tiny fraction of the 35 million cattle

> slaughtered each year are examined. Indeed, another

> case of the disease was recently identified, but the

> USDA rapidly proclaimed the test to be a false

> positive without giving any details.

>

> This incident brings me to the most frightening

> administration policyof all, which is an attempt by

> the White House Office of Management and Budget to

> gain complete control over the release of all public

> declarations from federal agencies responsible for

> public safety, health and the

> environment. OMB's Office of Information and

> Regulatory Affairs uses the excuse of sound science

> to justify stripping scientists of their traditional

> authority and adding an additional layer of

> political review for such life-threatening scenarios

> as epidemics, nuclear accidents and

> cases of mad cow disease?

>

> Although this policy has been criticized by every

> scientific organization in the country, the OMB has

> already silenced EPA statements regarding public

> health threats due to arsenic, lead and mercury in

> our environment, rewritten the EPA science on global

> warming and prevented the EPA from declaring a

> public health emergency due to a case of asbestos

> contamination in Montana.

>

> Just as the Bush administration manipulated the

> intelligence on Iraq, it is now trying to change the

> facts of nature to meet their political and

> ideological goals. This distortion of reality is

> going to have long-term consequences for our health,

> safety and the environment.

>

> If you believe that Big Brother is taking care of

> you, you can rest assured that he is doing it in the

> name of sound science.

>

> Schubert is a professor and laboratory head of the

> Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Salk

> Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla.

>

>