| December 16, 2008 |  |
UCS Issues New Year's Resolutions For Federal Science
Agency reform, transparency emphasized
When President-elect Barack Obama formally nominated Steven Chu for energy secretary yesterday, he emphasized Chu's credentials as a Nobel Prize-winning physicist as a harbinger of change. "His appointment should send a signal to all that my administration will value science," Obama said during the press conference. "We will make decisions based on facts, and we understand that the facts demand bold action."
To help the incoming administration meet that commitment, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today issued "10 New Year's Resolutions for a New Administration," which recommends steps the Obama administration can take to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. The resolutions are based on new UCS science policy and good government proposals, which the group also released today and already has shared with the Obama transition team. (For the policy proposals, go to: www.ucsusa.org/federalscience.)
"Fortunately, political interference in science is a problem with a solution," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program. "We've provided 10 quick, easy and inexpensive actions the new administration can take to get off on the right foot.
"The Obama administration will face immense challenges that can only be met if it has access to the best available scientific information," she added. "The new leaders of science-based federal agencies must make scientific integrity reform a priority if they are to regain the faith of all Americans and make fully informed decisions that affect our health and safety."
During the Bush administration, more than 15,000 U.S. scientists signed a petition denouncing political interference in science and calling for reform. UCS's recommendations are consistent with a statement issued in 2008 by scientific community leaders calling on the U.S. government to establish conditions that support robust federal scientific research and analysis (available at www.ucsusa.org/scientificfreedom).
The resolutions focus on increasing transparency in federal agencies and improving the way that science informs the decisionmaking process:
1. Defend Americans from unsafe drugs, toys and other products by requiring that federal agency leaders protect employees who blow the whistle when science is misused.
2. Allow the public access to tremendous scientific resources by letting government scientists tell us what they know.
3. Protect the air we breathe by obeying the law and setting air pollution standards based on science.
4. Restore our faith in government by providing more information to the public about how science-based policy decisions are made.
5. Use science to conserve our natural heritage for future generations.
6. Collect enough information to give us flexibility to meet future challenges and keep tabs on current problems.
7. Hold your administration accountable to high scientific integrity standards.
8. Keep politics out of science by reining in the power of the White House to tamper with purely scientific analyses.
9. Safeguard our health by putting the Environmental Protection Agency back in charge of evaluating the potential dangers of chemicals without interference from other agencies.
10. Protect us by shining a bright light on all agency meetings held with special interests so we can understand their influence.
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
