Blinded by Science

St. Louis Post Dispatch

The problem with scientists is that they're prejudiced. They believe in objective, verifiable reality. They're biased toward facts.Politicians have been bothered by this for years. But few of them have done as much about it as the administration of President George W. Bush.A survey released this week by the nonprofit advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists quantifies the administration's effort. More than half of the Environmental Protection Agency scientists who responded said they personally had experienced political interference with their work.Sometimes, it was the selective use of data to justify a regulatory decision. That happened last month when Mr. Bush personally intervened to weaken a rule governing ozone emissions. His eleventh-hour interference forced EPA officials to scramble to justify the move.

Other times, interference came when political appointees made changes during "reviews" that altered the meaning of scientific reports. Philip A. Cooney, a lobbyist Mr. Bush appointed to head the White House Council on Environment Quality, testified last year that it was his job to "align" scientific reports with administration policy. He made hundreds of edits to reports on global warming that emphasized doubt and uncertainty, not science.Though this week's report focused on the EPA, there's ample evidence of political interference in other government agencies:— White House officials removed references to the public health effects of global warming from testimony that Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had prepared for a Senate committee hearing.— Dr. Richard H. Carmona, a former U.S. Surgeon General, testified that Bush administration appointees tried to suppress scientific information on topics from stem cell research to contraception and abstinence-only education.— The U.S. Food and Drug Administration delayed approving over-the-counter sales of the so-called morning-after pill, Plan B for Women, for two years because of political opposition to emergency contraception. It also removed all reference to the effectiveness of condoms at protecting against sexually transmitted disease and preventing pregnancy.Administration apologists say that political appointees always have interfered with government scientific research. There's a grain of truth in that statement. But the Bush administration has raised political interference in science to a new level. Some 43 percent of EPA scientists who responded to the survey released this week said political interference was greater over the past five year than it had been during the previous 10.Taxpayers spend billions each year on scientific research. That money is wasted if the results of the work are skewed toward political ends.Congress must insulate career federal scientists from the interference of political hacks. Good public policy is based on sound science.Political truth often is based on expediency. Scientific truth is based on evidence. We confuse them at our peril.