Science & Democracy Resources

Reports: Scientific Integrity in Policy Making

A high-profile appointment of a scientist with questionable credentials is the selection of Dr. Joseph McIlhaney to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.

Survey of scientists at the FDA reporting significant interference with the FDA’s scientific work, compromising the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and safety.

In 2004 the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) exaggerated the impact of forest fires on spotted owl habitat in an attempt to expand old-growth logging in the Sierra Nevada. 

On scientific and medical issues, from childhood lead poisoning to reproductive health to toxic mercury pollution, federal government science is being manipulated, distorted, and suppressed at an unprecedented scale.

A 2007 UCS survey of nearly 5,500 scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency which shows political interference in the scientist's work, barriers to communication of scientific results, and concern's about agency effectiveness.

A report detailing political interference in science at the EPA, combining dozens of interviews with current and former staff, analysis of government documents, more than 1,600 survey responses, and 70 pages of written comments from scientists.

In September 2005, NOAA scientist Dr. Pieter Tans was asked to cancel a conference session on energy use and the carbon cycle due to policy implications and was told that the words “climate change” could not appear in the titles of any presentations.

In February 2006, the phrase “to understand and protect the home planet” was removed from the NASA’s official mission statement. Scientists worried the change meant funding would be shifted away from studies of Earth, including climate change research.

A major study of climate change’s potential consequences for the United States was erased from official government climate science and policy discussions.

Two independent investigations revealed persistent political interference in the work of federal climate scientists.

Summary and supporting documents detailing survey of scientists at NOAA, NASA, NCAR, USDA, EPA, DOD, DOE, and USGS. The survey gives evidence for inappropriate political interference in their work.