• 7/12/2004
  • By JOAN LOWY
  • Scripps Howard News Service

The Bush administration is using a variety of methods to suppress scientific research, information and viewpoints that are unfavorable to industry, speakers at a national conference on scientific integrity said Monday.

Scientific research and regulation related to the environment and public health is also being undermined by an aggressive effort by corporate interests to challenge scientific information, even when that information represents a clear consensus of scientific opinion, scientists and public health advocates said. “Within the scientific community the effects of the administration’s (actions) have been chilling and demoralizing,” Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., a clinical psychologist and former university professor, told the conference, sponsored by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public advocacy group. “Researchers are practicing self-censorship or avoiding government careers entirely,” Baird said. “Lifetimes of study are being abandoned, international collaborations are being curtailed, studies and data that could lead to valuable life-saving information are being neglected or blocked … and some of the best scientific talent in the world is starting to leave our country.”

Eric Schaeffer, who resigned two years ago as chief of enforcement at the Environmental Protection Agency in protest over the administration’s air pollution policies, said the agency recently decided to exempt two-thirds of plywood manufacturing plants from an air pollution regulation after determining that the health benefits would be outweighed by the costs of complying with the regulation.

The EPA based its decision in part on a new industry study that concludes the risk of contracting nose and throat cancer from formaldehyde, widely used by the industry, is much less than the government had previously assumed, Schaeffer said. At the same time, the EPA ignored two new studies by the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health showing formaldehyde exposure also greatly increases the risk of leukemia, Schaeffer said. “EPA has made some vague promises to study the leukemia studies,” Schaeffer said.

White House science adviser John Marburger said administration critics are making “sweeping generalizations” based on “disjointed facts.” “This administration values and supports science, both as a vital necessity for national security and economic strength and as an indispensable source of guidance for national policy,” Marburger said in a statement.

Some other recent controversies cited at the conference:

– A scientist with 17 years at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service filed a complaint with the Interior Department alleging the agency approved eight real estate development projects despite scientific information indicating the projects would harm the endangered Florida panther by taking away essential habitat.

Scientist Andrew Eller Jr. said the agency ignored an independent review released earlier this year by a team of scientists on the best criteria for use in determining panther habitat.

– After pumping tens of millions of dollars into education programs that promote complete sexual abstinence until marriage, the administration has dropped all attempts to scientifically assess whether abstinence education has any effect on out-of-wedlock births.

Similarly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discontinued scientific research to identify comprehensive sex education programs that reduce or delay teen sexual activity and teen pregnancy.

– The administration has demanded that the World Health Organization, which is affiliated with the United Nations, first clear all U.S. government scientists with the Department of Health and Human Services before they can be appointed as delegates to the organization’s meetings or serve on its panels.