4,000 Scientists, 48 Nobelists Slam Bush Science Distortions - LA Times

[hatrack]

WASHINGTON — "Four thousand scientists, including 48 Nobel Prize winners, accused the Bush administration today of distorting and suppressing science to suit its political goals. Scientists cited examples of esteemed colleagues who were denied seats on advisory panels, apparently because of their political beliefs. Some candidates for scientific advisory positions complained that the Bush administration officials who had to review their nominations asked them objectionable questions about their political views.

Gerald Kerusch, who left his post at the National Institutes of Health as associate director for international research and director of the Fogarty International Center, said the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson rejected 19 of his 26 candidates for the center's board. Among the 19 was a Nobel laureate who, Kerusch said he was told, was turned down because his name had appeared in full-page newspaper advertisements criticizing the Bush administration for manipulating science.

Discussing why he went public, Kerusch, assistant provost for global health at Boston University Medical Center, said: "I'm not doing this out of political malice. I'm doing this out of concern for the issues. I'm increasingly concerned because I see an increasing level of control from above." The Bush administration has frequently been criticized for misusing and ignoring science to further its policy aims, and the long list of signatures collected by the Union of Concerned Scientists suggested that the issue had become a concern across the scientific community.

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But Janet Rowley, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Bioethics, spoke out about the way she said science was sometimes distorted in the work of her council and elsewhere. "I have seen firsthand through the President's Council that this administration distorts scientific knowledge on stem cell research, which makes it increasingly difficult to have an honest debate in a field that holds promise for treatment of many serious diseases like Parkinson's and juvenile diabetes."

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[Maestro]

1. More scientists attacking here

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_environment/rsi/page.cfm?pageID=1449

Freaking incredible the ignorance of Bushco.