Political science in the USA
A survey of US Government scientists has found almost half have come under pressure from Bush administration officials to eliminate words like “climate change” and “global warming” from their reports, and reported no fewer than 435 instances of political interference in their work over the last 5 years. It is hard to imagine a single positive aspect of such political interference — attempts at re-writing scientific truth for the sake of short-term political ends — especially given the magnitude of the potential calamity the Earth faces.
“The Union of Concerned Scientists, a private advocacy group, and the Government Accountability Project, a legal-assistance group that represents whistle-blowers, sent out the survey to 1,600 scientists. Surveys were returned by 308 scientists. Not all answered every question, but the survey found that:
43 percent of respondents reported edits during review of their work that changed the meaning of their findings.
46 percent felt administrative requirements that impaired climate-related work.
67 percent said the environment for federal government climate research is worse now than five years ago.
The groups urged lawmakers to ensure “scientists’ constitutional right to speak about any subject in their private lives and allowing scientists to make ultimate decisions about the communication of their research.” “
Statistical note: Responses were voluntary, and only some 308 scientists responded from 1600 polled. It would be expected that those scientists who had suffered interference would be more likely to respond than those who did not, so the resulting sample percentages may well be over-estimates of the percentages of Government scientists who had endured interference. However, 435 cases of political interference are 435 too many.