White House Issues Long-Delayed Science Guidelines

[babylonsister]

White House Issues Long-Delayed Science Guidelines
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: December 17, 2010


The Obama administration issued long-awaited, long-delayed guidelines on Friday to insulate government scientific research from political meddling and to base policy decisions on solid data.

Under the guidelines, government scientists are in general free to speak to journalists and the public about their work, and agencies are prohibited from editing or suppressing reports by independent advisory committees.

And the agencies are instructed that when communicating a scientific finding to the public, they should describe its underlying assumptions. For instance, they are told to describe “probabilities associated with both optimistic and pessimistic projections” — a guideline that, had it been in place last summer, might have helped the administration avoid overly optimistic estimates of the BP oil spill.

snip//

The guidelines have their roots in a series of scientific controversies that erupted during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Officials were repeatedly accused of suppressing or even altering research findings, particularly on climate change, to match the political views of the White House. So in March 2009, when Mr. Obama overturned Bush administration limits on stem cell research, he set out several principles to “guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch” and added, “We make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/18/science/18research.html?hpw

[rpannier]

1. K&R

Great article (Important as well)
Doesn't seem to be getting the notice it deserves.
But in light of the DADT euphoria and the disappointment over the Dream Act I can see why

Hopefully more will notice
Thanks so much for posting

[ClarkUSA]

2. More CHANGE I am proud to have voted for and supported via OFA

Of course, hardly anyone at DU can be bothered to comment or rec this good news because it reflects well on the best Democratic President we've had in decades.

[Exilednight]

3. I am disappointed that it took so long, but I am glad it that in four months it will be in full

effect. Overall, it's a good set of guidelines.

K&R

[Go2Peace]

4. This is a good thing that the Pres is doing

Next he should reign in the Propaganda arm of government in the same way.

[Kdillard]

5. Good. K and R.

[Bongo Prophet]

6. file this under "T" for Transparency

...and facts over ideology.
:thumbsup:



:kick: