Saturday, June 26, 2004

LA Times: Administration Tries to Rein In Scientists. The Bush administration has ordered that government scientists must be approved by a senior political appointee before they can participate in meetings convened by the World Health Organization, the leading international health and science agency. [Dan Gillmor's eJournal] The most egregious quote in the article comes from an HSS spokesman: No one knows better than HHS who the experts are and who can provide the most up-to-date and expert advice," Jewell said. "The World Health Organization does not know the best people to talk to, but HHS knows. If anyone thinks politics will interfere with Secretary Thompson's commitment to improve health in every corner of the world, they are sadly mistaken. Who do they think they are fooling? The scientific reputation network has little to do with governmental bureaucracies. If HSS is anything like all other large bureaucracies I have known, political appointees and bureaucrats are very unlikely to know or propose the best scientists for a specialized scientific panel. It is hard to resist the conclusion that HSS political appointees are doing this to avoid the embarrassment of government scientists supporting conclusions that are uncomfortable for the administration. Which would be a big blow to the reputation of NIH, which is built on the independence of its scientists. 9:57:48 PM