• Scientific Integrity
• Global Warming
• Clean Vehicles
• Clean Energy
• Nuclear Power
• Nuclear Weapons & Global Security
• Food and Agriculture

 Fall 2009

Newsroom

• FDA Commits to Protecting Antibiotics
• Science Restored to Pollution Policy
• More Hope for Cleaner Cars
• New Warnings on Warming
• Keeping Tabs on North Korea
• Calendar Pokes Fun, Makes Point
• Give with Confidence

The Obama administration is prepared to combat antibiotic resistance by setting limits on the nontherapeutic use of medically valuable antibiotics in agriculture, according to Joshua Sharfstein, deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The announcement, which stunned the animal agriculture industry by reversing decades of agency policy, was delivered at a July congressional hearing on the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA).

The FDA appeared to be responding to constant pressure from UCS and our allies who are opposed to the common practice of feeding antibiotics to healthy animals for the purpose of promoting growth and preventing diseases caused by overcrowded conditions in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations). UCS estimates that 70 percent of antibiotics and related drugs are used for these nontherapeutic purposes, a practice that leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant diseases in humans. In implementing its new policy, the administration is considering ending the use of clinically valuable antibiotics for growth promotion and restricting over-the-counter sales of antibiotics.

Science Restored to Pollution Policy
EPA follows our recommendation

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists breathed a little easier in May when the agency reversed recent controversial changes in the way science is used to control air pollution. For decades, EPA staff scientists had worked with the independent Clean Air Science Advisory Committee to recommend air quality standards based on the best available science (as required by the Clean Air Act). The Bush administration, however, eliminated the role of independent scientific experts and injected political considerations at a much earlier point in the decision-making process. This encouraged the EPA to circumvent or squelch input from its own scientists and advisory committees.

When UCS convened a meeting between a coalition of scientific organizations and the EPA's transition team last January, we stressed that the agency should reinstate objective and transparent assessments of the science relevant to specific policy decisions. Repairing the damage that has been done to the way the federal government uses science in policy making will not be an easy task. Go to our scientific integrity progress report to track what steps the Obama administration actually takes to restore scientific integrity.

More Hope for Cleaner Cars
UCS support for state standards is rewarded

On June 30 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed a historic advance in cleaner cars to proceed by granting 14 states the waiver they require under the Clean Air Act to implement their own global warming pollution standards for automobiles. These state standards, which were developed in California and adopted by 13 other states, played a crucial role in pushing the auto industry to agree to the national clean car standards announced by President Obama in May.

UCS has been a leading voice in the development and expansion of state clean car standards, and thousands of UCS members and activists spoke out against the previous administration's denial of the EPA waiver. While the 14 states will now comply with the new national standards, our victory in securing the waiver is vital in empowering states to develop future standards that extend beyond the term of the federal plan, ensuring continued progress toward even cleaner, more efficient vehicles in every class.

New Warnings on Warming
U.S. report draws on our analysis

With help from UCS, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) recently released Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, the first such assessment to cover the entire country since 2001. The report details how Americans are already feeling the effects of global warming in their own backyards, in the form of rising temperatures, historically heavy precipitation, shifting growing seasons, and higher sea levels. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) led the project in concert with 12 other federal agencies, building on the 2007 findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and more recent U.S. research.

Many of the report authors have strong ties to UCS as organizational advisors, participants in our Sound Science Initiative, and members of our board (including our new chairman, James McCarthy). Some also contributed to recent UCS reports on climate change in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, and many of the figures developed for those reports appear in the USGCRP report. We are now working with NOAA, the USGCRP, the Center for American Progress, and state organizers to communicate the report's findings—particularly the costs of inaction—to the media and influential lawmakers and their constituents.

Keeping Tabs on North Korea
UCS sheds light on missile capabilities

Last May, seismic signals indicated that North Korea had conducted its second nuclear explosive test. This followed the country's launch of a rocket much larger and more powerful than any it had previously tested, apparently in a failed attempt to place its first satellite in orbit. These developments raised alarms around the world because the technology used to launch a satellite-bearing rocket into space can also be used to launch a long-range ballistic missile carrying a nuclear warhead.

UCS has followed North Korea's missile program closely for more than a decade, and following this launch, we worked with other experts to determine what technology was used in the rocket. Our results, which have been widely quoted in the press and presented to members of Congress, suggest that North Korea may soon be able to reach parts of the United States with a long-range missile, although it does not yet have a nuclear warhead for such a missile. We are now developing recommendations on how the United States could limit further missile development by North Korea. 

Calendar Pokes Fun, Makes Point
Showcases our scientific integrity work

Every year since 2006, UCS has asked artists all over the United States to give us their creative takes on the absurdity and impropriety of political interference in science. For this year's campaign, "Science Idol: Celebrity Edition," we specifically recruited 12 accomplished cartoonists and asked them to illustrate why it is so important that the Obama administration and Congress move to restore scientific integrity to federal policy making. The resulting 2010 wall calendar, with a cover featuring the favorite cartoon of UCS members and activists who voted online, is now available for purchase.

In addition to providing a year's worth of laughs, the calendar explains the need for reform on numerous issues (e.g., whistle-blower rights for scientists, public access to government scientific information, independent scientific advice for Congress, reducing the influence of special-interest groups) and helps spread awareness about efforts to create a thriving federal scientific enterprise. It makes an excellent gift for everyone who believes science-based policy decisions should be made with access to the best available science.