Warming's effects on health at issue
WASHINGTON - Members of Vice President Dick Cheney's staff censored congressional testimony by a top federal official on the health threats posed by global warming, a former official of the Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday.
In a letter to Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, Jason Burnett, former EPA deputy associate administrator, said an official from Cheney's office ordered that six pages be edited out of the testimony last October of Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Several media outlets, including The Washington Post, reported at the time that Gerberding had planned to say that the "CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," among other passages. White House officials said then that they questioned the scientific basis of aspects of Gerberding's draft testimony.
Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said the administration feared that Gerberding's testimony would force the federal government to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. The White House has opposed mandatory limits and insisted that voluntary measures and increased research are the best way to address the issue.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/07/09/cheneys_staff_censored_epa_ex_official_alleges/