USA: Bush administration in denial on science

The US Bush administration is in denial on mercury, poisoning the American environment.

They are in denial on scientists' work on global warming.

This is part of their broader attitude to science:

US: ACLU hits Bush administration’s anti-science policies

By Jamie Chapman
6 August 2005

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently issued a scathing indictment of the Bush administration’s record on science.

Its report, entitled “Science Under Siege,” was issued on June 21.

It documents the White House’s distortion, abuse and quashing of legitimate scientific inquiry in order to promote its political agenda.

The ACLU commissioned the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to draft the report.

The UCS issued its own report in February 2004, entitled “Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking.”

This earlier statement has since been signed by over 6,000 American scientists, including 48 Nobel laureates, 62 National Medal of Science recipients, and 135 members of the National Academy of Sciences.

The new ACLU/UCS report shows that in the intervening 16 months the Bush administration, far from responding to pressure generated by the earlier UCS recommendations, has deepened its attack on science.

Such political hot topics as government backing for creationism over evolution or state intervention in scientifically supported legal rulings on the case of Terri Schiavo are not addressed.

By focusing on four main areas that are less in the public eye, the authors establish how negatively the Bush administration has impacted the practice of science in the United States.

The first section details the unprecedented control that government exercises over the control of information.

Read more here.