The War on Science Continues

Posted on October 25, 2007

Center for Disease Control officials have stated that the White House muzzled their representative when she testified to Congress about the effects that Global Warming will have on the health of Americans. CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding, told a Senate hearing that climate change will have a "broad range of impacts on the health of Americans." But she wasn't allowed to say with any specificity what those impacts will be, because her report was censored for political reasons.

Her testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had much less information on health risks than a much longer draft version Gerberding submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review in advance of her appearance. "It was eviscerated," said a CDC official, familiar with both versions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the review process.
The official said that while it is customary for testimony to be changed in a White House review, these changes were particularly "heavy-handed." The White House office had no comment on Gerberding's testimony. Gerberding could not be reached late Tuesday for comment.
The deletions directed by the White House included details on how many people might be adversely affected because of increased warming and the scientific basis for some of the CDC's analysis on what kinds of diseases might be spread in a warmer climate and rising sea levels, according to another official who had seen the original version. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), the committee chairwoman, said the Bush administration "should immediately release Dr. Gerberding's full, uncut statement, because the public has a right to know all the facts about the serious threats posed by global warming."

We may not have seen the report, but an earlier report by the Pentagon stated that Global Warming is a much bigger threat than terrorism, and that it will cause extreme weather, rising oceans and the spread of tropical diseases. That report got out before Dick Cheney got his handy redacting pen ready.

President Bush's War on Science continues. He's doing a much better job of muzzling America's scientists than he is at muzzling Al-Qaeda terrorists.