"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 The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private citizens in addition to professional scientists. Anne Kapuscinski, Professor of Environment ...

in February, 2004. The report was the culmination of an investigation of the Bush administration's objectivity in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, 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 criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...

ism thereof.

"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 Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

by senior officials in various federal agencies # Active censorship of scientific information that the administration considered threatening to its own

philosophies List of philosophies, schools of thought and philosophical movements. A Absurdism – Academic skepticism – Accelerationism - Achintya Bheda Abheda – Action, philosophy of – Actual idealism – Actualism – Advaita Vedanta ...

# Restriction of the ability of government-supported scientists to freely communicate scientific

idea In philosophy and in common usage, an idea (from the Greek word: ἰδέα (idea), meaning 'a form, or a pattern') is the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophe ...

s 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 present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

. 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 * 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 The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...

, 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 The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

to issue

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

s, and other actions, that would prevent further "abuse"; for the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to hold appropriate

hearing Hearing, or auditory perception, is the ability to perceive sounds through an organ, such as an ear, by detecting vibrations as periodic changes in the pressure of a surrounding medium. The academic field concerned with hearing is auditory sci ...

s, consider the consequences of

statutory law A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wi ...

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 The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a department of the United States government, part of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), established by United States Congress on May 11, 1976, with a broad mandate to advise the pr ...

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 The Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) advises the White House and the Secretary of Health and Human Services on the US government's response to the AIDS epidemic. The commission was formed by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and each ...

** 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 *

David Baltimore David Baltimore (born March 7, 1938) is an American biologist, university administrator, and 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. He is a professor of biology at the California Institute of Tech ...

Paul Berg Paul Berg (June 30, 1926 – February 15, 2023) was an American biochemist and professor at Stanford University. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, along with Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger. The award recogniz ...

Rosina Bierbaum Rosina M. Bierbaum (born September 30, 1952) is currently the Roy F. Westin Chair in Natural Economics and Research Professor at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. She is also a professor and former dean at the University of Mic ...

Nicolaas Bloembergen Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch- American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a ...

Lewis M. Branscomb Lewis McAdory Branscomb (August 17, 1926 – May 31, 2023) was an American physicist, government policy advisor, and corporate research manager. He was best known for being head of the National Bureau of Standards and, later, chief scientist of ...

Eric Chivian Eric S. Chivian is the founder and director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment (CHGE) at Harvard Medical School, where he is also an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry. Life and career A 1964 graduate of Harvard Universit ...

* Joel E. Cohen *

James Cronin James Watson Cronin (September 29, 1931 – August 25, 2016) was an American particle physicist. Cronin and co-researcher Val Logsdon Fitch were awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment that proved that certain subatomic ...

* Margaret Davis * Paul M. Doty * Paul Ehrlich *

Thomas Eisner Thomas Eisner (June 25, 1929 – March 25, 2011) was a German-American entomologist and ecologist, known as the "father of chemical ecology." He was a Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology at Cornell University, and director of the ...

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 300 scientific publications, Field's research emphasizes impacts of climate change, from the molecular to t ...

* Gerald D. Fischbach * Val L. Fitch * Jerry Franklin * Jerome Friedman * Richard L. Garwin * John H. Gibbons * Marvin L. Goldberger * Lynn R. Goldman *

Kurt Gottfried Kurt Gottfried (May 17, 1929 – August 25, 2022) was an Austrian-born American physicist who was professor emeritus of physics at Cornell University. He was known for his work in the areas of quantum mechanics and particle physics and was also ...

* David Grimes *

Roger Guillemin Roger Charles Louis Guillemin (; January 11, 1924 – February 21, 2024) was a French-American neuroscientist. He received the National Medal of Science in 1976, and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1977 for ...

* John P. Holdren * Eric R. Kandel * Anne Kapuscinski *

Walter Kohn Walter Kohn (; March 9, 1923 – April 19, 2016) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the un ...

Lawrence Krauss Lawrence Maxwell Krauss (born May 27, 1954) is a Canadian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist who taught at Arizona State University (ASU), Yale University, and Case Western Reserve University. He founded ASU's Origins Project in ...

* Neal F. Lane *

Leon M. Lederman Leon Max Lederman (July 15, 1922 – October 3, 2018) was an American experimental physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1988, along with Melvin Schwartz and Jack Steinberger, for research on neutrinos. He also received the Wolf Pr ...

William Lipscomb William Nunn Lipscomb Jr. (December 9, 1919April 14, 2011) was a Nobel Prize-winning People of the United States, American Inorganic chemistry, inorganic and Organic chemistry, organic chemist working in nuclear magnetic resonance, theoretical ch ...

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- ...

* Michael MacCracken * James J. McCarthy * Jerry M. Melillo *

Matthew S. Meselson Matthew Stanley Meselson (born May 24, 1930) is a geneticist and molecular biologist currently at Harvard University, known for his demonstration, with Franklin Stahl, of semi-conservative DNA replication. After completing his Ph.D. under Linus ...

* David Michaels *

Mario Molina Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (19 March 19437 October 2020) was a Mexican physical chemist. He played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, and was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role ...

* 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 i ...

* W.K.H. Panofsky *

Stuart Pimm Stuart Leonard Pimm (born 27 February 1949) is the Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at Duke University. His early career was as a theoretical ecologist but he now specialises in scientific research of biodiversity and conservation biolo ...

* Ron Pulliam * Norman F. Ramsey * Anthony Robbins *

Allan Rosenfield Allan Rosenfield (April 28, 1933 – October 12, 2008) was an advocate for women's health during the worldwide AIDS pandemic as dean of the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Early life Rosenfield was born in Brookline, Massachusetts ...

* 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 * J. Robert Schrieffer *

Richard Smalley Richard Errett Smalley (June 6, 1943 – October 28, 2005) was an American chemist who was the Gene and Norman Hackerman Professor of Chemistry, Physics, and Astronomy at Rice University. In 1996, along with Robert Curl, also a professor of ...

* Felicia Stewart *

Kevin Trenberth Kevin Edward Trenberth (born 8 November 1944 in Christchurch, New Zealand) worked as a climate scientist in the Climate Analysis Section at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). He was a lead author of the 1995, 2001 and 2007 ...

Harold E. Varmus Harold Eliot Varmus (born December 18, 1939) is an American Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He is currently the Lewis Thomas University Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a senior associate at the New York Genome Center. He was ...

Steven Weinberg Steven Weinberg (; May 3, 1933 – July 23, 2021) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic inter ...

E.O. Wilson Eo or EO may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Education Otherwise, a home education organization * Elevorganisasjonen, a Norwegian student organization * Entrepreneurs' Organization, a nonprofit network * Evangelische Omroep, a publ ...

Edward Witten Edward Witten (born August 26, 1951) is an American theoretical physics, theoretical physicist known for his contributions to string theory, topological quantum field theory, and various areas of mathematics. He is a professor emeritus in the sc ...

George Woodwell George Masters Woodwell (October 23, 1928 – June 18, 2024) was an American ecologist. He founded several programs in ecology, first at Brookhaven National Laboratory then at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and the ...

* Donald Wuebbles * Herbert F. York

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