"Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science" is the title of a report published by the Union of Concerned Scientists in February, 2004. The report was the culmination of an investigation of the Bush administration's objectivity in science, and ultimately a

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

ism thereof. (After it was published, the report's existence was fairly well-publicized by the United States' mass media.)

"Suppression and distortion of research findings"

A central thesis of the report, according to the Executive Summary (on page 2 of the text), was that the Bush administration had behaved in ways considered to be consistent with the following three situations. # Epidemic altering and concealing of scientific information by senior officials in various federal agencies # Active censorship of scientific information that the administration considered threatening to its own philosophies # Restriction of the ability of government-supported scientists to freely communicate scientific ideas related to "sensitive" issues

"An unprecedented pattern of behavior"

In "Part III", the text of the report posits that the aforementioned activities are unprecedented in the

history of the United States The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

. The report lists the following persons and organization who had supposedly acted or made statements to support this claim. ''This list is sorted first by category, then by the order in which the persons or organizations are mentioned in the report.'' * Organization **

REP America ConservAmerica, formerly known as Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP), is a national nonprofit organization formed in 1995. REP's stated purpose is to strengthen the Republican Party's stance on environmental issues and support effor ...

* Persons ** Ruckelshaus, William ** Train, Russell ** Panofsky, Dr. Wolfgang H. K. ** Goldberger, Dr. Marvin ** Scarlett, Dr. Margaret ** Kennedy, Donald ** Bromley, Dr. D. Allan ** Branscomb, Professor Lewis M. ** Goldman, Dr. Lynn

Recommendations by the Union

Page 29 of the report states: "This behavior by the administration violates the central premise of the scientific method, and is therefore of particularly grave concern to the scientific community." It then goes on, in a short section titled "Conclusions and Recommendations: What's at Stake" at the end of the report, to provide recommendations for "restoring scientific integrity to federal policymaking" (page 30). These recommendations (on pages 30–31) include a suggestion for the President of the United States to issue executive orders, and other actions, that would prevent further "abuse"; for the United States Congress to hold appropriate hearings, consider the consequences of statutory law under its influence, increase the amount of publicly available scientific information, and establish an organization to guide Congress in its deliberations in technical matters; for scientists to raise awareness of the aforementioned issues and provide public policy recommendations; for the public to exercise its political influence in a constructive manner.

Response

On April 2, 2004, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a statement by Dr. John Marburger, the director of OSTP, that claims the descriptions of the incidents in the UCS report are all "false," "wrong," or "a distortion." He said he was disappointed with the report and dismissed it as "biased

The report's table of contents

The following is a duplication of the report's table of contents. * Executive summary * Part I: Suppression and distortion of research findings at federal agencies ** Distorting and suppressing climate change research ** Censoring information on air quality *** Mercury emissions from power plants *** Addressing multiple air pollutants ** Distorting scientific knowledge on reproductive health issues *** Abstinence-only education *** HIV/AIDS *** Breast cancer ** Suppressing analysis on airborne bacteria ** Misrepresenting evidence on Iraq's aluminum tubes ** Manipulation of science regarding the endangered species act *** Missouri River ** Manipulating the scientific process on forest management ** OMB rulemaking on "peer review" * Part II: Undermining the quality and integrity of the appointment process ** Industry influence on lead poisoning prevention panel ** Political litmus tests on workplace safety panel ** Non-scientist in senior advisory role to the President ** Underqualified candidates in health advisory roles *** The FDA's Reproductive Health Advisory Committee *** Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS ** Litmus tests for scientific appointees *** National Institute on Drug Abuse ***

Army Science Board The Army Science Board (ASB) provides advice about army science to senior military leaders. The ASB is a Federal Advisory Committee organized under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. It is the United States Department of the Army senior scienti ...

** Dismissal of nuclear weapons and arms control panels *** National Nuclear Security Administration panel *** Arms control panel * Part III: An unprecedented pattern of behavior ** Disseminating research from federal agencies ** Irregularities in appointments to scientific advisory panels * Conclusions and recommendations: What's at stake ** Restoring scientific integrity to federal policy making * Appendices ** EPA memo on climate section of the Report on the Environment ** USDA "sensitive issue" list

Associated Statement "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking"

At the time of issue of this report, the UCS released a statement supporting the criticisms detailed in the above report. This statement was originally signed by the 62 prominent scientists listed below. Since that time it has gathered support from more than 12,000 scientists. Signatories of the original statement include: *

Philip W. Anderson Philip Warren Anderson (December 13, 1923 – March 29, 2020) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism, symmetry breaking (including a paper in 1 ...

* David Baltimore * Paul Berg * Rosina Bierbaum * Nicolaas Bloembergen *

Lewis M. Branscomb Lewis McAdory Branscomb (born August 17, 1926) is an American physicist, government policy advisor, and corporate research manager. He is best known as former head of the National Bureau of Standards and, later, chief scientist of IBM; and as ...

* Eric Chivian *

Joel E. Cohen Joel Ephraim Cohen (born February 10, 1944) is a Mathematical and theoretical biology, mathematical biologist. He is currently Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Populations at the Rockefeller University in New York City and at the Earth Institut ...

* James Cronin *

Margaret Davis Margaret Davis may refer to: * Margaret Davis (paleoecologist) (born 1931), American paleoecologist * Margaret Davis (politician) (1933–2022), Australian politician *Margaret Thomson Davis Margaret Thomson Davis (24 May 1926 – 14 June 2016) w ...

Paul M. Doty Paul Mead Doty (June 1, 1920 – December 5, 2011) was Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard University, specializing in the physical properties of macromolecules and strongly involved in peace and security policy issues. Biograph ...

* Paul Ehrlich * Thomas Eisner *

Christopher Field Christopher B. Field is an American scientist and researcher, who has contributed to the field of climate change. The author of more than 200 scientific publications, Field's research emphasizes impacts of climate change, from the molecular to the ...

Gerald D. Fischbach Gerald D. Fischbach (born November 15, 1938) is an American neuroscientist. He received his M.D. from the Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in 1965 before beginning his research career at the National Institutes of Health in 19 ...

Val L. Fitch Val Logsdon Fitch (March 10, 1923 – February 5, 2015) was an American nuclear physicist who, with co-researcher James Cronin, was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment using the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Br ...

* Jerry Franklin * Jerome Friedman *

Richard L. Garwin Richard Lawrence Garwin (born April 19, 1928) is an American physicist, best known as the author of the first hydrogen bomb design. In 1978, Garwin was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributing to the application ...

* John H. Gibbons * Marvin L. Goldberger * Lynn R. Goldman * Kurt Gottfried * David Grimes * Roger Guillemin * John P. Holdren *

Eric R. Kandel Eric Richard Kandel (; born Erich Richard Kandel, November 7, 1929) is an Austrian-born American medical doctor who specialized in psychiatry, a neuroscientist and a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the College of Physicians and Surge ...

Anne Kapuscinski Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

* Walter Kohn * Lawrence Krauss *

Neal F. Lane Cornelius Francis "Neal" Lane (born August 22, 1938), is an American physicist and Senior Fellow in Science and Technology Policy at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and Malcolm Gillis University Professor Emeritus of Physics ...

* Leon M. Lederman * William Lipscomb *

Jane Lubchenco Jane Lubchenco (born December 4, 1947) is an American environmental scientist and marine ecologist who teaches and conducts research at Oregon State University. Her research interests include interactions between the environment and human well-be ...

Michael MacCracken Michael Calvin MacCracken (born 1942), has been chief scientist for climate change programs with the Climate Institute in Washington, D.C., since 2002; he was also elected to its board of directors in 2006. Early life Born in Schenectady, New York ...

James J. McCarthy James J. McCarthy (January 25, 1944 – December 11, 2019) was a Professor of Biological Oceanography at Harvard and was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from February 2008 to February 2009. McCarthy was the ...

Jerry M. Melillo Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...

* Matthew S. Meselson * David Michaels * Mario Molina * Michael Oppenheimer *

Gordon Orians Gordon Howell Orians (born July 10, 1932) is an American ornithologist and ecologist. He was the 1999 recipient of the Cooper Ornithological Society’s Loye and Alden Miller Research Award, which is given in recognition of lifetime achievement in ...

* W.K.H. Panofsky *

Stuart Pimm Stuart Leonard Pimm (born 27 February 1949) is an American-British biologist and theoretical ecologist specializing in scientific research of biodiversity and conservation biology. Education Pimm was born in Derbyshire, United Kingdom. He was ed ...

* Ron Pulliam *

Norman F. Ramsey Norman Foster Ramsey Jr. (August 27, 1915 – November 4, 2011) was an American physicist who was awarded the 1989 Nobel Prize in Physics, for the invention of the separated oscillatory field method, which had important applications in the const ...

Anthony Robbins Anthony Jay Robbins (né Mahavoric, born February 29, 1960) is an American author, coach, speaker, and philanthropist. He is known for his infomercials, seminars, and self-help books including the books ''Unlimited Power'' and ''Awaken the G ...

* Allan Rosenfield * F. Sherwood Rowland *

Edwin E. Salpeter Edwin Ernest Salpeter (3 December 1924 – 26 November 2008,) was an Austrian–Australian–American astrophysicist. Life Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, Salpeter emigrated from Austria to Australia while in his teens to escape the Nazis. He ...

William Schlesinger William H. Schlesinger (born April 30, 1950) is a biogeochemist and the retired president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, an independent not-for-profit environmental research organization in Millbrook, New York. He assumed that positi ...

* J. Robert Schrieffer * Richard Smalley *

Felicia Stewart Felicia H. Stewart (1943–2006) was a women's health physician and expert in the field of reproductive health. Education Stewart was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with honors in Biochemistry. In 1969, she r ...

* Kevin Trenberth * Harold E. Varmus * Steven Weinberg * E.O. Wilson * Edward Witten * George Woodwell *

Donald Wuebbles Donald James Wuebbles is the Harry E. Preble Endowed Professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. He was formerly the head of this department from 1994 to 2006, and was the founding direc ...

Herbert F. York Herbert Frank York (24 November 1921 – 19 May 2009) was an American nuclear physicist of Mohawk origin.http://www.edge.org/conversation/nsa-the-decision-problem. The Decision Problem He held numerous research and administrative positions ...

External links

*
Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: The Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science
'' February 2004 *
Scientific Integrity in Policy Making: Further Investigation of the Bush Administration’s Misuse of Science
'' July 2004 *

'

References

{{reflist Science in society George W. Bush administration controversies Climate change in the United States