Political science

American scientists say political interference with their work has never been so ideologically blatant as under the current administration, according to science writer Barton Reppert in the Christian Science Monitor. All governments to some degree use their control of grant money and scientific appointments to promote research consistent with their policy objectives, but scientists told Reppert that the depth and breadth of such meddling by the administration’s conservative ideologues threatened the “integrity of the US research infrastructure itself”. A congressional probe into the matter charged the Bush administration with "misleading statements by the president, inaccurate responses to Congress, altered websites, suppressed agency reports, erroneous international communications, and the gagging of scientists.” Bush’s use of junk science in relation to stem-cell research and global warming are the best known examples of what Reppert describes as a “broader pattern across the administration”, which also affects research into sex education, breast cancer, drinking water, food safety, prescription-drug advertising, workplace safety, and more than a dozen other areas identified in the congressional report. (See article below).  article