Misplaced Pages

Politicization of science: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 16:19, 27 December 2013 editTrivialist (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers208,531 edits adding internal links | Cleaned up using AutoEd← Previous edit Latest revision as of 01:45, 26 December 2024 edit undoComradeHektor (talk | contribs)285 editsm It does not always happen against the consensus of the time or place.Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit 
(319 intermediate revisions by more than 100 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{short description|Use of science for political purposes}}
The '''politicization of science''' is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when ], ], or ]s use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of science may also negatively affect ] and ]. Historically, groups have conducted various campaigns to promote their interests in defiance of ], and in an effort to manipulate ].<ref name=discovery></ref><ref name=AAAS></ref><ref name=nejm> George J. Annas, ], Volume 354:2277-2281 May 25, 2006</ref>
{{distinguish|political science|science policy}}
{{For|the process by which ideas, entities and facts become political|politicization}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{Globalize|date=January 2021}}
{{Lead too short|date=January 2022}}
}}
The '''politicization of science''' for political gain occurs when ], ], or ]s use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of science may also negatively affect ] and ], and as a result it is considered ] to mix politics with science. Historically, groups have conducted various campaigns to promote their interests, many times in defiance of ], and in an effort to manipulate ].<ref name=discovery>{{Cite web |url=https://www.discovery.org/a/2445/ |title=Evolution or design debate heats up |date=December 1, 2004 |website=Discovery Institute}}</ref><ref name=AAAS>"Some bills seek to discredit evolution by emphasizing so-called "flaws" in the theory of evolution or "disagreements" within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the scientific community about the validity of the theory of evolution. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is not a scientific one."
{{cite web|url=http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204044657/https://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf|archive-date=4 February 2012|title=AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution|publisher=]|date=16 February 2006}}</ref><ref name=nejm> George J. Annas, ], Volume 354:2277–2281 May 25, 2006</ref>


==Overview== == Overview ==
Many factors can act as facets of the politicization of science. These can range, for example, from ] ] and perceived threats to religious belief to ] ], fear for business interests, institutional academic ideological biases or potentially implicit bias amongst scientific researchers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldberg |first1=Jeanne |title=The Politicization of Scientific Issues: Looking through Galileo's Lens or through the Imaginary Looking Glass |journal=] |date=2017 |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=34–39 |url=https://www.csicop.org/si/show/politicization_of_scientific_issues |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816182350/https://www.csicop.org/si/show/politicization_of_scientific_issues |access-date=16 August 2018|archive-date=2018-08-16 }}</ref>
Researcher William R. Freudenburg and colleagues have noted that where decisions and action are required, science can offer valuable degrees of certainty, however, it can never offer a guarantee.<ref name=SCAMs/> ] describes how this point is sometimes intentionally ignored as a part of what he calls an "] tactic".<ref name=HorganReview/> Organizations sometimes seek to shift all discussion on some issues away from 'conclusions are most scientifically likely' to 'even the more probable conclusion is still uncertain.'


Politicization occurs as scientific information is presented with emphasis on the uncertainty associated with the interpretation of scientific evidence. The emphasis capitalizes on the lack of consensus, which influences the way the studies are perceived.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bolsen|first1=Toby|author2-link=James N. Druckman |last2=Druckman|first2=James N.|title=Counteracting the Politicization of Science|journal=Journal of Communication|date=2015|issue=65|page=746}}</ref> ] describes how this point is sometimes intentionally ignored as a part an "Orwellian tactic." Organizations and politicians seek to disclaim all discussion on some issues as 'the more probable conclusion is still uncertain' as opposed to 'conclusions are most scientifically likely'<ref>{{cite news|last1=Horgan|first1=John|title=The Republican War on Science|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/books/review/political-science.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=22 April 2018|date=2005-12-18}}</ref> in order to further discredit scientific studies.
] has claimed these tactics are used to gain more attention for views that have been undermined by scientific evidence. In his view, the media ends up in a misguided pursuit of "balance" which results in undue weight in reporting. As examples, Mooney offers the ] campaign that seeks to cast doubt on some aspects of evolutionary explanations, and other campaigns that seek to cast doubt on certain aspects of ].<ref>{{cite book| author = ]| title = The Republican War on Science| publisher = ]| year = 2005| isbn = 0-465-04676-2}}</ref>


Tactics such as shifting conversation, failing to acknowledge facts, and capitalizing on doubt of scientific consensus have been used to gain more attention for views that have been undermined by scientific evidence. "]," ideology-based interest groups that claim expertise on scientific issues, have run successful "disinformation campaigns" in which they highlight the inherent uncertainty of science to cast doubt on scientific issues such as human-caused climate change, even though the scientific community has reached virtual consensus that humans play a role in climate change.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van der Linden |first1=Sander |last2=Leiserowitz |first2=Anthony |last3=Rosenthal |first3=Seth |last4=Maibach |first4=Edward |title=Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change |journal=Global Challenges |volume=1 |issue=2 |page=1 |doi=10.1002/gch2.201600008 |pmid=31565263 |year=2017 |pmc=6607159}}</ref>
William R. Freudenburg and colleagues have written about this ]al technique, and state that this is an attempt to shift the ] in an argument.<ref name=SCAMs> "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the politics of doubt". ''Sociological Inquiry''. Vol. '''78''', No. 1. 2–38</ref> ] combating laws that would control smoking via trivializing evidence as uncertain, is offered as an example of a SCAM (Scientific Certainty Argumentation Method). They maintain that what is needed is a balanced approach that carefully considers the risks of both ] in a situation while noting that scientific conclusions are always tentative. The authors conclude that politicians and lobby groups are too often able to make "successful efforts to argue for full 'scientific certainty' before a regulation can be said to be 'justified'&nbsp;— and that, in short, is a SCAM."<ref name=SCAMs/>


William R. Freudenburg and colleagues have written about politicization of science as a rhetorical technique and states that it is an attempt to shift the burden of proof in an argument.<ref name="William F 2008">{{cite journal|last1=Freudenberg|first1=William R.| last2=Gramling |first2=Robert |last3=Davidson|first3=Debra J.|title=Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt|journal=Sociological Inquiry|volume=78|issue=1|year=2008|pages=2–38|doi= 10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00219.x|doi-access=free}}</ref> He offers the example of ] opposing laws that would discourage smoking. The lobbyists trivialize evidence as uncertain, emphasizing lack of conclusion. Freudenberg concludes that politicians and lobby groups are too often able to make "successful efforts to argue for full 'scientific certainty' before a regulation can be said to be 'justified' and maintain that what is needed is a balanced approach that carefully considers the risks of both Type 1 and Type 2 errors in a situation while noting that scientific conclusions are always tentative.<ref name="William F 2008" />
Hank Campbell and microbiologist Alex Berezow have described "feel-good fallacies" used in politics, where politicians frame their positions in a way that makes people feel good about supporting certain policies even when scientific evidence shows there is no need to worry or there is no need for dramatic change on current programs. They have claimed that ] have had these kinds of issues with policies involving ]s, ], ], ], ], and other topics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hank Campbell|first=Alex Berezow,|title=Science Left Behind : Feel-good Fallacies and the Rise of the Anti-Scientific Left|publisher=PublicAffairs|location=New York|isbn=9781610391641|edition=1st}}</ref>


== Politicization by advocacy groups ==
==Historical examples==
A political tactic, sometimes used to delay the implementation of legislation to control potentially harmful activities, is the "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Method" (SCAM). In many cases, there is a degree of uncertainty in scientific findings and this can be exploited to delay action, perhaps for many years, by demanding more "certainty" before action is taken.<ref>{{Cite journal |doi=10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00219.x |title=Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt |journal=Sociological Inquiry |volume=78 |pages=2–38 |year=2008 |last1=Freudenburg |first1=William R. |last2=Gramling |first2=Robert |last3=Davidson |first3=Debra J. |doi-access=free}}</ref>
===Soviet Union===
{{Main|Suppressed research in the Soviet Union}}


{{anchor|global warming|Global warming}}
In the ], scientific research was under strict political control. A number of research areas were declared "]" and forbidden. This has led to significant setbacks for the Soviet science, notably in ] due to ban on ]<ref>{{cite journal
=== Climate change ===
| first=Bentley | last=Glass | month=May | year=1962
{{Main|Global warming controversy}}
| title=Scientists in Politics | volume=18 | issue=5
{{See also|I'm not a scientist}}
| page=3 | journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
{{multiple image
| url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PgkAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 }}</ref> (see "]") and in ], which drastically influenced the Soviet economy and technology.
| total_width = 450
| image1 = 202303 Global warming caused by human activities - Gallup survey.svg
| caption1 = ] and ] have long differed in views of climate change, with the gap widening in the late 2010s,<ref name=PewSurvey_2020>{{cite web |title=As Economic Concerns Recede, Environmental Protection Rises on the Public's Policy Agenda / Partisan gap on dealing with climate change gets even wider |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/02/13/as-economic-concerns-recede-environmental-protection-rises-on-the-publics-policy-agenda/ |website=PewResearch.org |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210116155958/https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/02/13/as-economic-concerns-recede-environmental-protection-rises-on-the-publics-policy-agenda/ |archive-date=16 January 2021 |date=13 February 2020 |url-status=live}} (Discontinuity resulted from survey changing in 2015 from reciting "global warming" to "climate change".)</ref> and Democrats three times more likely to view it as human-caused.<ref name=Gallup_20230420>{{cite web |last1=Saad |first1=Lydia |title=A Steady Six in 10 Say Global Warming's Effects Have Begun |url=https://news.gallup.com/poll/474542/steady-six-say-global-warming-effects-begun.aspx |publisher=Gallup, Inc. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420123700/https://news.gallup.com/poll/474542/steady-six-say-global-warming-effects-begun.aspx |archive-date=20 April 2023 |date=20 April 2023 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| image2 = 2021 Survey on existence of global warming and responsibility for climate change - bar chart.svg
| caption2 = The sharp divide over the existence of and responsibility for global warming and climate change falls largely along political lines.<ref name=Guardian_20211026/> Overall, 60% of Americans surveyed said oil and gas companies were "completely or mostly responsible" for climate change.<ref name=Guardian_20211026>{{cite news |last1=McGreal |first1=Chris |title=Revealed: 60% of Americans say oil firms are to blame for the climate crisis |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/26/climate-change-poll-oil-gas-companies-environment |work=The Guardian |date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026122356/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/26/climate-change-poll-oil-gas-companies-environment |archive-date=26 October 2021 |url-status=live |quote=Source: Guardian/Vice/CCN/YouGov poll. Note: ±4% margin of error.}}</ref>
}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| total_width = 450
| image3 = 20220301 Opinions by political party - Climate change causation - Action for carbon neutral 2050 - Pew Research.svg
| caption3 = Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans.<ref name=Pew_20220301/> Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.<ref name=Pew_20220301>{{cite web |last1=Tyson |first1=Alec |last2=Funk |first2=Cary |last3=Kennedy |first3=Brian |title=Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables) |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |website=Pew Research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418220503/https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/03/01/carbon-neutral-2050-appendix/ |archive-date=18 April 2022 |date=1 March 2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| image4 = 20220831 Climate change is a "major threat" to my country - Pew survey.svg
| caption4 = National political divides on the seriousness of climate change consistently correlate with political ideology, with right-wing opinion being more negative.<ref name=Pew_20220831>{{cite web |last1=Poushter |first1=Jacob |last2=Fagan |first2=Moira |last3=Gubbala |first3=Sneha |title=Climate Change Remains Top Global Threat Across 19-Country Survey |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/08/31/climate-change-remains-top-global-threat-across-19-country-survey/ |website=pewresearch.org |publisher=Pew Research Center |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831225832/https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2022/08/31/climate-change-remains-top-global-threat-across-19-country-survey/ |archive-date=31 August 2022 |date=31 August 2022 | quote=Only statistically significant differences shown. |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}


Both mainstream climatologists and their critics have accused each other of politicizing the science behind ]. There is a ] in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced ].<ref name="OreskesBeyondTheIvoryTower">{{Cite journal |last=Oreskes |first=Naomi |author-link=Naomi Oreskes |title=Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change |journal=Science |volume=306 |page=1686 |date=December 2004 |doi=10.1126/science.1103618 |pmid=15576594 |issue=5702 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="AmericasClimateChoices-2010-SciPanel">{{Cite book |publisher=The National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-14588-6 | last = America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council |title=Advancing the Science of Climate Change |location=Washington, D.C. |year=2010 |url=http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12782}}</ref><ref name="USNAS-2008-ClimateChoices">{{cite web |title=Understanding and Responding to Climate Change |url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1048006.pdf |publisher=] |access-date=30 May 2010 |year=2008 |archive-date=11 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711224937/https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb1048006.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
===Tobacco and cancer===
]
By the mid-1950s there was a scientific consensus that smoking promotes lung cancer, but the ] fought the findings, both in the public eye and within the scientific community. Tobacco companies funded ]s and lobbying groups, started health reassurance campaigns, ran advertisements in medical journals, and researched alternate explanations for lung cancer, such as pollution, asbestos and even pet birds. Denying the case against tobacco was "closed," they called for more research as a tactic to delay regulation.<ref name=physorg></ref> John Horgan, notes a rhetoric tactic that has been used by tobacco companies. It is summarized in a line that appeared in a confidential memo from a tobacco company, in 1969, when they sought to cast doubt on evidence that supports smoking causes cancer. It read, "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."<ref name=HorganReview></ref>
<ref name=DoubtIs>{{Cite web|url=http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/wjh13f00|title=Original "Doubt is our product..." memo|date=21 August 1969|publisher=University of California, San Francisco|accessdate=3 October 2012}}</ref>


In 1991, a US corporate coalition including the ], the ] and ] created a ] organization called the "]" (ICE). ICE launched a $500,000 advertising campaign to, in ICE's own words, "reposition global warming as theory (not fact)." Critics of industry groups have charged that the claims about a global warming controversy are part of a deliberate effort to reduce the impact any international treaty, such as the ], might have on their business interests.<ref name=earthisland>{{cite web |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/The+PR+plot+to+overheat+the+earth.-a020556371 |title=The PR Plot to Overheat the Earth |year=2008}}</ref>
===Eugenics===
{{Main|Eugenics}}


In 2006, ''Guardian'' columnist ] reported that according to data found in official Exxon documents, 124 organizations have taken money from ExxonMobil or worked closely with those that have, and that "These organizations take a consistent line on climate change: that the science is contradictory, the scientists are split, environmentalists are charlatans, liars or lunatics, and if governments took action to prevent global warming, they would be endangering the global economy for no good reason. The findings these organisations dislike are labelled ']'. The findings they welcome are labelled 'sound science'."<ref> The Guardian, September 19, 2006</ref><ref name=pacinist>{{cite web|url=http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/selective_use_climate_update.pdf|title=The Political and Selective Use of Data: Cherry-Picking Climate Information in the White House|author=Peter H. Gleick |work=Pacific Institute|date=8 March 2007}}</ref> The "selective use of data", ], is identified as a notable form of scientific abuse by the ], an organization created to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security.<ref name=pacinst2>{{Cite web|url=https://pacinst.org/our-priorities/|title=Our Priorities}}</ref>
] under ] was well known for ] programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of ]. The Nazis manipulated scientific research in Germany, by forcing some scholars to emigrate, and by allocating funding for research based on ideological rather than scientific merit.<ref name="DeichmannDunlap1999">{{cite book|author1=Ute Deichmann|author2=Thomas Dunlap|title=Biologists Under Hitler|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=gPrtE4K0WC8C|date=15 May 1999|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-07405-7}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2012}}


=== Intelligent design ===
In the early 20th century, Eugenics enjoyed substantial international support, from leading politicians and scientists. The First International Congress of ] in 1912 was supported by many prominent persons, including: its president ], the son of ]; honorary vice-president ], then First Lord of the Admiralty and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; ], famous Swiss pathologist; ], the inventor of the telephone; among other prominent people.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blom|first=Philipp|authorlink=Philipp Blom|title=The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West, 1900-1914|year=2008|publisher=McClelland & Stewart, Ltd.|location=Toronto|isbn=978-0-7710-1630-1|page=334}}</ref>
{{Main|Intelligent design|Teach the controversy}}


The ] associated with the ], attempts to "defeat ] ]" represented by the theory of ] in favor of "a science consonant with ] and ] convictions".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ncse.com/files/pub/creationism/The_Wedge_Strategy.pdf |title=Wedge Document |year=1999 |publisher=Discovery Institute }} – cited in Handley P. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311170638/http://www.antievolution.org/features/wedge.pdf |date=2011-03-11 }} ''The Times of Oman'', 7 March 2005.</ref> The Discovery Institute portrays evolution as a "theory in crisis" with scientists criticizing evolution and that "fairness" and "equal time" requires educating students about "the controversy."
The level of support for Eugenics research by the Nazis prompted an American Eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of the American program, with the complaint that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".<ref name="Lynn2001">{{cite book|last=Lynn|first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Lynn|title=Eugenics: a reassessment|year=2001|publisher=Praeger|location=New York|isbn=0-275-95822-1|page=18|quote=By the middle decades of the twentieth century, eugenics had become widely accepted throughout the whole of the economically developed world, with the exception of the Soviet Union.}}</ref>


A cornerstone of modern scientific biological theory is that all forms of life on Earth are related by common descent with modification.<ref name="NAS">{{cite book |author=National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine |title=Science, Evolution, and Creationism |publisher=National Academy Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-309-10586-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780309105866 }}</ref> While many valid criticisms to the theory of evolution have existed throughout time, often certain ideological proponents seek to expand the scope of these disagreements in order to draw doubt onto the entire theory. For example, in the United States, there is a legal precedent of those who sought to discredit the teaching of evolution in classrooms by emphasizing so-called flaws in the theory of evolution or disagreements within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the mainstream scientific community about the validity of the main pillars of theory of evolution at this time. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is thus not primarily a scientific one.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204044657/https://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/pdf/0219boardstatement.pdf|archive-date=4 February 2012|title=AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution|publisher=]|date=16 February 2006}}</ref><ref>"That this controversy is one largely manufactured by the proponents of creationism and intelligent design may not matter, and as long as the controversy is taught in classes on current affairs, politics, or religion, and not in science classes, neither scientists nor citizens should be concerned." George J. Annas, ], Volume 354:2277–2281 May 25, 2006</ref> The 2005 ruling in the Dover trial, '']'', where the claims of intelligent design proponents were considered by a ] concluded that intelligent design is not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and concluded that the school district's promotion of it therefore violated the ] of the ].<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District |vol=04 |reporter= cv |opinion= 2688 |date=December 20, 2005 }}, ].</ref>
There was a strong connection between American and Nazi Eugenics research. Nazis based their ] program on the United States' programs of forced ], especially on the eugenics laws that had been enacted in ].<ref></ref>


=== Tobacco and cancer ===
==Recent examples==
]
=== George W. Bush administration ===
By the mid-1950s there was a scientific consensus that smoking promotes lung cancer, but the ] fought the findings, both in the public eye and within the scientific community. Tobacco companies funded ]s and lobbying groups, started health reassurance campaigns, ran advertisements in medical journals, and researched alternate explanations for lung cancer, such as ], ] and even pet birds. Denying the case against tobacco was "closed," they called for more research as a tactic to delay regulation.<ref name=physorg>{{Cite web |url=https://medicalxpress.com/news/2007-02-tobacco-companies-obstructed-science-history.html |title=Tobacco companies obstructed science, history professor says |website=medicalxpress.com}}</ref> John Horgan, notes a rhetoric tactic that has been used by tobacco companies. It is summarized in a line that appeared in a confidential memo from a tobacco company, in 1969, when they sought to cast doubt on evidence that supports smoking causes cancer. It read, "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."<ref name=HorganReview>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/books/review/18horgan.html?pagewanted=all |title=The Republican War on Science – Book Review |work=Sunday Book Review, Political Science |author=John Horgan |date=18 December 2005}}</ref><ref name=DoubtIs>{{Cite web |url=https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#id=xqkd0134 |title=Original "Doubt is our product..." memo |date=21 August 1969 |publisher=University of California, San Francisco |access-date=3 October 2012}}</ref>
In 2004, The '']'' reported that that ] "has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee." At least 20 of these former industry advocates helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that benefit their former industries. "They knew which changes to make because they had pushed for them as industry advocates."<ref name=denver_post> Anne C. Mulkern. The Denver Post, May 23, 2004.</ref>


=== Eugenics ===
Also in 2004, the scientific ] group ] issued a report, ''Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science''<ref name=americanprogress> Union of Concerned Scientists</ref><ref name=ucsintegrity> Union of Concerned Scientists</ref> which charged the following: <blockquote>"A growing number of scientists, policy makers, and technical specialists both inside and outside the government allege that the current Bush administration has suppressed or distorted the scientific analyses of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy. In addition, these experts contend that irregularities in the appointment of scientific advisors and advisory panels are threatening to upset the legally mandated balance of these bodies."</blockquote> A petition, signed on February 18, 2004, by more than 9,000 scientists, including 49 ] and 63 ] recipients,<ref> Union of Concerned Scientists</ref> followed the report. The petition stated: <blockquote>"When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals, the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its decisions. This has been done by placing people who are professionally unqualified or who have clear conflicts of interest in official posts and on scientific advisory committees; by disbanding existing advisory committees; by censoring and suppressing reports by the government’s own scientists; and by simply not seeking independent scientific advice. Other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front. Furthermore, in advocating policies that are not scientifically sound, the administration has sometimes misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies."</blockquote>
{{Main|Eugenics}}


] under ] was well known for ] programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of ]. The Nazis manipulated scientific research in Germany, by forcing some scholars to emigrate, and by allocating funding for research based on ideological rather than scientific merit.<ref name="DeichmannDunlap1999">{{cite book|author1=Ute Deichmann|author2=Thomas Dunlap|title=Biologists Under Hitler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPrtE4K0WC8C|year=1999|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-07405-7}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=January 2012}}
The same year, Francesca Grifo, executive director of the ]' Scientific Integrity Program, stated "We have reports that stay in draft form and don't get out to the public. We have reports that are changed. We have reports that are ignored and overwritten."<ref name=npr> Don Gonyea. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition Sunday, February 26, 2006.</ref>


In the early 20th century, Eugenics enjoyed substantial international support, from leading politicians and scientists. The First International Congress of Eugenics in 1912 was supported by many prominent persons, including its president ], the son of ]; honorary vice-president ], then First Lord of the Admiralty and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; ], famous Swiss pathologist; ], the inventor of the telephone; among other prominent people.<ref>{{cite book|last=Blom|first=Philipp|author-link=Philipp Blom|title=The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West, 1900–1914|year=2008|publisher=McClelland & Stewart, Ltd.|location=Toronto|isbn=978-0-7710-1630-1|page=|url=https://archive.org/details/vertigoyearschan0000blom/page/334}}</ref>
In response to criticisms, President Bush in 2006 unveiled a campaign in his ] to promote scientific research and education to ensure American competitiveness in the world, vowing to "double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years."


The level of support for eugenics research by the Nazis prompted an American eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of the American program, with the complaint that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".<ref name="Lynn2001">{{cite book |last=Lynn |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Lynn |title=Eugenics: a reassessment |year=2001 |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |isbn=978-0-275-95822-0 |page=18 |quote=By the middle decades of the twentieth century, eugenics had become widely accepted throughout the whole of the economically developed world, with the exception of the Soviet Union.}}</ref>
====Surgeon General====
Dr. ], the first ] appointed by President George W. Bush, publicly accused the administration in July 2007 of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like ].<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/washington/11surgeon.html?_r=1 | title=Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised | publisher=] | date=July 11, 2007 | accessdate=2007-12-03 | first=Gardiner | last=Harris }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1034212120070710 | title=Former Bush surgeon general says he was muzzled | date=July 10, 2007 | accessdate=2007-12-03 | first=Will | last=Dunham | publisher=] }}</ref>


There was a strong connection between American and ] research. Nazis based their eugenics program on the United States' programs of forced ], especially on the eugenics laws that had been enacted in ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/09/ING9C2QSKB1.DTL |publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=November 9, 2003|title=Eugenics and the Nazis – the California connection|last=Black|first= Edwin}}</ref>
"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Carmona testified.<ref></ref>


=== Social justice ===
Although he did not make personal accusations, the '']'' reported on July 29 that the official who blocked at least one of Carmona's reports was ].<ref name=Post29>, Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman, The Washington Post, July 29, 2007.</ref>
Some critics argue that science has been politicized by ] advocates.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shermer |first=Michael |date=2016-03-01 |title=Is Social Science Politically Biased? |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-social-science-politically-biased/ |website=Scientific American}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Krylov |first=Anna I. |date=2021-06-10 |title=The Peril of Politicizing Science |url=https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475|journal=The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters |volume=12 |issue=22 |pages=5371–5376|doi=10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475 |pmid=34107688 |s2cid=235392946 |issn=1948-7185|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Honeycutt |first1=Nathan |last2=Jussim |first2=Lee |date=2020-01-02|title=A Model of Political Bias in Social Science Research |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2020.1722600 |journal=Psychological Inquiry |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=73–85 |doi=10.1080/1047840X.2020.1722600 |s2cid=216273572 |issn=1047-840X}}</ref> David Randall, director of research at the politically conservative advocacy group the ],<ref name="nyt-sept-2008">{{cite news |last=Cohen |first=Patricia |date=September 21, 2008 |title=Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses |work=] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/education/22conservative.html |access-date=September 22, 2008}}</ref><ref name="DPost">{{cite web |last=Curtin |first=Dave |date=8 April 2001 |title=CU dean resigns, rips state |url=http://extras.denverpost.com/news/news0408i.htm |access-date=12 November 2018 |website=denverpost.com}}</ref> said that the emphasis on pursuing social justice and political activism "threatens the very definition of science as primarily a search for truth".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Politicized Science by David Randall {{!}} NAS |url=https://www.nas.org/academic-questions/32/2/politicized-science |access-date=2021-10-20 |website=www.nas.org |language=en}}</ref> In October 2021, ''The New York Times'' reported a rise in calls for "citational justice" within academic communities, which the article defines as an effort by professors and graduate students "to cite more Black, Latino, Asian and Native American scholars and in some cases refuse to acknowledge in footnotes the research of those who hold distasteful views."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Powell|first=Michael|date=2021-10-20|title=M.I.T.'s Choice of Lecturer Ignited Criticism. So Did Its Decision to Cancel. |language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/20/us/dorian-abbot-mit.html|access-date=2021-10-20 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Some researchers have defended these efforts against the charge of politicization, arguing that science has always been inherently political.<ref>{{Citation |last1=Hansson |first1=Lena |title=Nature of Science for Social Justice: Why, What and How? |date=2020 |work=Nature of Science for Social Justice |pages=1–21 |editor-last=Yacoubian |editor-first=Hagop A. |series=Science: Philosophy, History and Education |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-47260-3_1 |isbn=978-3-030-47260-3 |last2=Yacoubian |first2=Hagop A. |s2cid=226721222 |editor2-last=Hansson |editor2-first=Lena |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ball |first=Philip |date=2021-07-15 |title=Science Is Political, and We Must Deal with It |url=https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02017 |journal=The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters |language=en |volume=12 |issue=27 |pages=6336–6340 |doi=10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02017 |pmid=34261323 |s2cid=235906420 |issn=1948-7185}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-09-01|title='Don't politicize STEM! Stick to the science, not social issues' |url=https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/community-building/theme-j/responses-common-criticisms-anti-racism-action-stem/dont-politicize-stem |access-date=2021-10-20|website=neuro.hms.harvard.edu|language=en}}</ref>


== Government politicization ==
====Food and Drug Administration====
{{Globalize
In July 2006 the ] (UCS) released survey results that demonstrate pervasive political influence of science at the ] (FDA).<ref></ref> Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one fifth (18.4 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey Union of Concerned Scientists has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.
|date=November 2022
| 1= section
| 2= United States
}}
=== Soviet Union ===
{{Main|Suppressed research in the Soviet Union}}


In the ], scientific research was under strict political control. A number of research areas were declared "]" and forbidden. This has led to significant setbacks for the Soviet science, notably in ] due to ban on ]<ref>{{cite journal
The Department of Health and Human Services also conducted a survey addressing the same topic which generated similar findings.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-12-16-fda-survey-usat_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=FDA scientists question safety | first1=Julie | last1=Schmit | date=December 17, 2004 | accessdate=May 22, 2010}}</ref> According to '']'', a survey of ] scientists by ] and the Union of Concerned Scientists found that many scientists have been pressured to approve or reject new drugs despite their scientific findings concerns.<ref name=usatoday></ref> In July 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists released survey results that they said "demonstrate pervasive political influence of science" at the ].<ref name=ucsfda></ref><ref name=ucsfda2></ref>
| first=Bentley | last=Glass |date=May 1962
| title=Scientists in Politics | volume=18 | issue=5
| page=3 | journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
| doi=10.1080/00963402.1962.11454353 | bibcode=1962BuAtS..18e...2G | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgkAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3 }}</ref> (see "]") and in ], which drastically influenced the Soviet economy and technology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Krylov|first=Anna I.|date=2021-06-10|title=The Peril of Politicizing Science|journal=The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters|volume=12|issue=22|pages=5371–5376|doi=10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475|pmid=34107688|issn=1948-7185|doi-access=free|s2cid=235392946 }}</ref>


====United States Department of the Interior==== === United States ===
The General Social Survey (GSS) of 1974 recorded that conservatives had the highest rates of trust in science between the three major political demographics: conservatives, liberals, and moderates. This study was repeated annually between 1972 and 1994, and biannually from 1994 until 2010. In 2010, when the same study was repeated, conservatives' trust rates had decreased from 49% to 38%, moderates' trust rates from 45% to 40%, and liberals' trust rates staying relatively stable, rising slightly from 48% to 50%.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gauchat|first1=Gordon|title=Politicization of Science in the Public Sphere: A Study of Public Trust in the United States, 1974 to 2010|journal=American Sociological Review|date=2012|volume=77|issue=2|pages=168–187|doi=10.1177/0003122412438225|s2cid=17725502|url=http://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/savvy/images/journals/docs/pdf/asr/Apr12ASRFeature.pdf}}</ref>
{{Main|Julie A. MacDonald}}


The study by Gordon Gauchat, which investigates time trends in the public trust of science in the United States, suggests that the increase of distrust of conservatives can be attributed to two cultural shifts. The first was during the post-] era when the ] emerged, and the second during the ] era when the NR intensified and conservatives commenced the "war on science".
On May 1, 2007, deputy assistant secretary at the ] ] resigned after the Interior Department Inspector General, Honorable Earl E. Devaney, reported that MacDonald broke federal rules by giving non-public, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and manipulated scientific findings to favor Bush policy goals and assist land developers.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-29-interior_N.htm?csp=15 | title = Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data | publisher = USA Today | date = March 30, 2007}}</ref> On November 29, 2007, another report by Devaney found that MacDonald could have also benefitted financially from a decision she was involved with to remove the ] fish from the federal endangered species list.<ref name=ensnov29></ref>


Barack Obama and other politicians, since Bush's presidency, have expressed their concerns with the politicization of science in both the public and government sphere. In 2011, during his State of the Union speech, Obama discussed his dissatisfaction of the relationships between organized science, private economic interests, and the government.
MacDonald's conduct violated the ] (CFR) under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.703, Use of nonpublic information, and 5 C.F.R. § 2635.101, Basic obligation of public service.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/esa/pdfs/DOI-IG-Report_JM.pdf | title = Report of Investigation: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks | publisher = US Department of the Interior | date = March 23, 2007|format=PDF}}</ref></blockquote> MacDonald resigned a week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on accusations that she had "violated the Endangered Species Act, censored science and mistreated staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."<ref name=AP-20070501></ref>


A 2024 analysis found that 100 U.S. Representatives and 23 U.S. Senators—23% of the 535 members of Congress—were climate change deniers.<ref name=AmerProgress_20240718/> All were Republicans.<ref name=AmerProgress_20240718>{{cite web |last1=So |first1=Kat |title=Climate Deniers of the 118th Congress |url=https://www.americanprogress.org/article/climate-deniers-of-the-118th-congress/ |publisher=American Progress |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805204056/https://www.americanprogress.org/article/climate-deniers-of-the-118th-congress/ |archive-date=5 August 2024 |date=18 July 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Intelligent design===
{{Main|Intelligent design|Teach the controversy}}


==== George W. Bush administration ====
The ] associated with the ], attempts to "defeat ] ]" represented by the theory of ] in favor of "a science consonant with ] and ] convictions".<ref>The '''''' (PDF file), a 1999 Discovery Institute fundraising pamphlet. Cited in Handley P. ''The Times of Oman'', 7 March 2005.</ref> The Discovery Institute portrays ] as a "theory in crisis" with scientists criticizing evolution and that "fairness" and "equal time" requires educating students about "the controversy."
In 2004, The '']'' reported that the ] "has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee." At least 20 of these former industry advocates helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that benefit their former industries. "They knew which changes to make because they had pushed for them as industry advocates."<ref name=denver_post>{{cite web|url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm|title=When Advocates Become Regulators|author= Anne C. Mulkern|publisher=The Denver Post|date=May 23, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100201080338/https://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm|archive-date=1 February 2010}}</ref>


Also in 2004, the scientific ] group ] issued a report, ''Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science''<ref name=americanprogress>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanprogress.org/atf/cf/%7BE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7D/UCSINTEGRITY.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060214221941/https://www.americanprogress.org/atf/cf/%7BE9245FE4-9A2B-43C7-A521-5D6FF2E06E03%7D/UCSINTEGRITY.PDF|archive-date=14 February 2006|title= Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An 'Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science'|publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists}}</ref><ref name=ucsintegrity> Union of Concerned Scientists</ref> which charged the following: <blockquote>A growing number of scientists, policy makers, and technical specialists both inside and outside the government allege that the current Bush administration has suppressed or distorted the scientific analyses of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy. In addition, these experts contend that irregularities in the appointment of scientific advisors and advisory panels are threatening to upset the legally mandated balance of these bodies.</blockquote> A petition, signed on February 18, 2004, by more than 9,000 scientists, including 49 ] and 63 ] recipients,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://go.ucsusa.org/RSI_list/index.php|title= Scientific Integrity Statement Signatories|publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050829130606/http://www.ucsusa.org/RSI_list/index.php|archive-date=29 August 2005}}</ref> followed the report. The petition stated: <blockquote>When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals, the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its decisions. This has been done by placing people who are professionally unqualified or who have clear conflicts of interest in official posts and on scientific advisory committees; by disbanding existing advisory committees; by censoring and suppressing reports by the government's own scientists; and by simply not seeking independent scientific advice. Other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front. Furthermore, in advocating policies that are not scientifically sound, the administration has sometimes misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies.</blockquote>
That all forms of life on Earth are related by common descent with modification is one of the most reliable and empirically tested theories in science.<ref name="NAS">{{cite book |author=National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine | title=Science, Evolution, and Creationism | publisher=National Academy Press | year=2008|isbn=0-309-10586-2 | url=http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876}}</ref> Accordingly, any controversial aspects of evolution are a matter of religion and politics, not science.<ref name=AAAS>"Some bills seek to discredit evolution by emphasizing so-called "flaws" in the theory of evolution or "disagreements" within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the scientific community about the validity of the theory of evolution. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is not a scientific one."
]. February 16, 2006</ref><ref>"That this controversy is one largely manufactured by the proponents of creationism and intelligent design may not matter, and as long as the controversy is taught in classes on current affairs, politics, or religion, and not in science classes, neither scientists nor citizens should be concerned." George J. Annas, ], Volume 354:2277-2281 May 25, 2006</ref> The 2005 ruling in the Dover trial, '']'', where the claims of intelligent design proponents were considered by a ] concluded that intelligent design is not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and concluded that the school district's promotion of it therefore violated the ] of the ].<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District |vol=04 |reporter= cv |opinion= 2688 |pinpoint= |court= |date=December 20, 2005 }}, ].</ref>


The same year, Francesca Grifo, executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program, stated "We have reports that stay in draft form and don't get out to the public. We have reports that are changed. We have reports that are ignored and overwritten."<ref name=npr> Don Gonyea. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition Sunday, February 26, 2006.</ref>
A 2006 article in scientific journal '']'', said the reason that among the thirty-four developed countries surveyed, the U.S. ranks second from last in the number of adults who accept the theory of evolution: "The
acceptance of evolution is lower in the United States than in Japan or Europe, largely because of
widespread fundamentalism and the politicization of science in the United States."<ref>Miller, Jon D.; Scott, Eugenie C.; and Okamoto, Shinji. 2006. Science. 313: 765-766.</ref>


In response to criticisms, President Bush in 2006 unveiled a campaign in his ] to promote scientific research and education to ensure American competitiveness in the world, vowing to "double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kf0JNNW_rjYC&pg=PT117 | title=Space Studies Board Annual Report 2006 | publisher=National Academy of Sciences | author=Space Studies Board | year=2007 | pages=110| isbn=978-0-309-11555-1 }}</ref>
===Global warming===
{{Main|Global warming controversy}}


===== Surgeon General =====
Both mainstream climatologists and ] have accused each other of politicizing the science behind ]. There is a ] that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.<ref name="OreskesBeyondTheIvoryTower">{{Cite journal| last = Oreskes| first = Naomi| authorlink = Naomi Oreskes| title = BEYOND THE IVORY TOWER: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change| journal = Science| volume = 306| page = 1686| date = December 2004| url =http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1686| doi = 10.1126/science.1103618| pmid = 15576594| issue = 5702}}</ref><ref name = "AmericasClimateChoices-2010-SciPanel">{{Cite book| publisher=The National Academies Press| isbn = 0-309-14588-0| last = America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council| title = Advancing the Science of Climate Change| location = Washington, D.C.| year = 2010| url = http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12782}}</ref><ref name="USNAS-2008-ClimateChoices">{{cite web | title = Understanding and Responding to Climate Change| url = http://dels-old.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/climate_change_2008_final.pdf|publisher=]|accessdate=30 May 2010|year=2008}}</ref>
], the first ] appointed by President George W. Bush, publicly accused the administration in July 2007 of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like ].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/washington/11surgeon.html?_r=1 | title=Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised | work=] | date=July 11, 2007 | access-date=2007-12-03 | first=Gardiner | last=Harris }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1034212120070710 | title=Former Bush surgeon general says he was muzzled | date=July 10, 2007 | access-date=2007-12-03 | first=Will | last=Dunham | newspaper=] }}</ref>


"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Carmona testified.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-08-05-science-politics_N.htm|publisher=USA Today|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623162918/https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-08-05-science-politics_N.htm|archive-date=23 June 2015|title=Science vs. politics gets down and dirty|date=7 August 2007}} Note: archive.org backup has much better formatting than live URL</ref>
In 1991, a US corporate coalition including the ], the ] and ] created a ] organization called the "]" (ICE). ICE launched a $500,000 advertising campaign to, in ICE's own words, "reposition global warming as theory (not fact)." Critics of industry groups have charged that the claims about a global warming controversy are part of a deliberate effort to reduce the impact any international treaty, such as the ], might have on their business interests.<ref name=earthisland></ref>


Although he did not make personal accusations, the '']'' reported on July 29 that the official who blocked at least one of Carmona's reports was ].<ref name=Post29>, Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman, The Washington Post, July 29, 2007.</ref>
In June 2005, John Vidal, environment editor of '']'', asserted the existence of ] papers showing that the Bush administration thanked ] executives for the company's "active involvement" in helping to determine climate change policy, including the US stance on Kyoto. Input from the industry advocacy group ] was also a factor.<ref> John Vidal. The Guardian, June 8, 2005</ref>


===== Food and Drug Administration =====
In 2006, ''Guardian'' columnist ] reported that according to data found in official Exxon documents, 124 organizations have taken money from ExxonMobil or worked closely with those that have, and that "These organizations take a consistent line on climate change: that the science is contradictory, the scientists are split, environmentalists are charlatans, liars or lunatics, and if governments took action to prevent global warming, they would be endangering the global economy for no good reason. The findings these organisations dislike are labelled 'junk science'. The findings they welcome are labelled 'sound science'."<ref> The Guardian, September 19, 2006</ref><ref name=pacinist></ref> The "selective use of data", ], is identified as a notable form of scientific abuse by the ], an organization created to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security.<ref name=pacinst2></ref>
In July 2006 the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released survey results that demonstrate pervasive political influence of science at the ] (FDA).<ref name="ucsfda">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news|title=Media Center &#124; Union of Concerned Scientists|website=www.ucsusa.org}}</ref> Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one fifth (18 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey Union of Concerned Scientists has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.


The Department of Health and Human Services also conducted a survey addressing the same topic which generated similar findings.<ref name=usatoday>{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-12-16-fda-survey-usat_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=FDA scientists question safety | first1=Julie | last1=Schmit | date=December 17, 2004 | access-date=May 22, 2010}}</ref> According to '']'', a survey of Food and Drug Administration scientists by ] and the Union of Concerned Scientists found that many scientists have been pressured to approve or reject new drugs despite their scientific findings concerns.<ref name=usatoday /> In July 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists released survey results that they said "demonstrate pervasive political influence of science" at the Food and Drug Administration.<ref name="ucsfda"/><ref name=ucsfda2>{{cite web|url=http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/Scientific-Integrity-at-Risk-FDA.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425224905/http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/scientific_integrity/Scientific-Integrity-at-Risk-FDA.pdf|archive-date=25 April 2016| title=Scientific Integrity at Risk: The Food and Drug Administration|publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists}}</ref>
In December 2007, the '']'' reported that at least since 2003, and especially after ], the George W. Bush administration has broadly attempted to control which ] could speak with reporters, as well as edited scientists' congressional testimony on ] and key legal opinions.<ref name=csm></ref> Those who have studied organizations set up to delay action and manufacture uncertainty about the well established scientific consensus have divided their tactics into three basic categories: first deny there is a problem, second, make the case that it's not a problem and may actually be beneficial, and failing that to admit it's a problem but insist there's nothing anyone can do about it.<ref name=goodforyou> Dylan Otto Krider, ''Houston Press, 2002''</ref>


===== United States Department of the Interior =====
===Waxman report===
{{Main|Julie A. MacDonald}}
In August 2003, ], Democratic Congressman ] and the staff of the ] released a report concluding that the ] had politicized science and ]. The report accuses the administration of modifying performance measures for abstinence-based programs to make them look more effective. The report also found that the Bush administration had appointed Dr. Joseph McIlhaney, a prominent advocate of abstinence-only program, to the Advisory Committee to the director of the ]. According to the report, information about comprehensive sex education was removed from the CDC's website.

On May 1, 2007, deputy assistant secretary at the ] ] resigned after the Interior Department Inspector General, Honorable Earl E. Devaney, reported that MacDonald broke federal rules by giving non-public, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and manipulated scientific findings to favor Bush policy goals and assist land developers.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-03-29-interior_N.htm?csp=15 | title = Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data | publisher = USA Today | date = March 30, 2007}}</ref> On November 29, 2007, another report by Devaney found that MacDonald could have also benefitted financially from a decision she was involved with to remove the ] fish from the federal endangered species list.<ref name=ensnov29>{{cite web|url=http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2007/2007-11-29-10.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806081654/http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2007/2007-11-29-10.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 6, 2020|title=U.S. Endangered Species Program Burdened by Political Meddling|date=29 November 2007|author=Pegg, JR}}</ref>

MacDonald's conduct violated the ] (CFR) under ] §&nbsp;2635.703, Use of nonpublic information, and 5 C.F.R. §&nbsp;2635.101, Basic obligation of public service.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/programs/esa/pdfs/DOI-IG-Report_JM.pdf | title = Report of Investigation: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks | publisher = US Department of the Interior | date = March 23, 2007}}</ref> MacDonald resigned a week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on accusations that she had "violated the Endangered Species Act, censored science and mistreated staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."<ref name=AP-20070501>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18422404|title=Interior Dept. official quits ahead of hearing|publisher=AP|date=1 May 2007}}</ref>

===== Climate change =====
In December 2007, the '']'' reported that at least since 2003, and especially after ], the George W. Bush administration broadly attempted to control which ] could speak with reporters, as well as edited scientists' congressional testimony on ] and key legal opinions.<ref name=csm>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1212/p03s03-uspo.html|title=Study finds White House manipulation on climate science|date=December 12, 2007|journal=Christian Science Monitor}}</ref> Those who have studied organizations that set up to delay action and manufacture uncertainty about the well-established scientific consensus have divided their tactics into three steps: first, deny that there is a problem, second, make the case that there are benefits involved, and, third, insist that there is nothing that can be done.<ref name=goodforyou> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319192316/https://www.houstonpress.com/news/global-warming-is-good-for-you-6558634 |date=2021-03-19 }} Dylan Otto Krider, ''Houston Press, 2002''</ref>

In a study, "The legitimacy of environmental scientists in the public sphere" by Gordon Gauchat, Timothy O'Brien, and Oriol Mirosa, the researchers conclude that attitudes about environmental scientists as policy advisers are highly politicized. Their results demonstrate that, to be perceived by the public as a reputable policy advisor, the public's perception of their integrity and understanding weigh more strongly than their agreement with scientific consensus.

===== Waxman report =====
In August 2003, ], Democratic Congressman ] and the staff of the ] released a report concluding that the administration of George W. Bush had politicized science and ]. The report accuses the administration of modifying performance measures for abstinence-based programs to make them look more effective. The report also found that the Bush administration had appointed Dr. Joseph McIlhaney, a prominent advocate of abstinence-only program, to the Advisory Committee to the director of the ]. According to the report, information about comprehensive sex education was removed from the CDC's website.<ref name="waxmanreport" />


Other issues considered for removal included ], the ] and ]; the report found that a ] website has been changed to reflect the administration view that there may be a risk of breast cancer associated with ]s.<ref name=waxmanreport></ref><ref name=waxmanpage></ref> The website was updated after protests and now holds that no such risk has been found in recent, well-designed studies.<ref>The full report in PDF format is available from http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/pdfs/pdf_politics_and_science_rep.pdf</ref> Other issues considered for removal included ], the ] and ]; the report found that a ] website has been changed to reflect the administration view that there may be a risk of breast cancer associated with ]s.<ref name=waxmanreport>{{cite web|url=http://democrats.reform.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/pdfs/pdf_politics_and_science_rep.pdf|title=Politics and Science in the Bush Administration|publisher=United States House of Representatives|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040924022245/http://democrats.reform.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/pdfs/pdf_politics_and_science_rep.pdf|archive-date=2004-09-24}}</ref><ref name=waxmanpage>{{cite web|url=http://www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207032614/http://democrats.reform.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/index.htm|archive-date=7 December 2006|title=Politics and Science: Investigating the Bush Administration's Promotion of Ideology Over Science|date=August 2003|url-status=dead}}</ref> The website was updated after protests and now holds that no such risk has been found in recent, well-designed studies.<ref name="waxmanreport" />


===Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis=== ===== Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis =====
{{Main|Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis}} {{Main|Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis}}


The abortion-breast cancer hypothesis is the belief that induced abortions increase the risk of developing breast cancer.<ref name="RUSSO_505">{{cite journal |author=Russo J, Russo I |title=Susceptibility of the mammary gland to carcinogenesis. II. Pregnancy interruption as a risk factor in tumor incidence |journal=Am J Pathol |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=505–506 |year=1980 |pmid=6773421 |pmc=1903536}} "In contrast, abortion is associated with increased risk of carcinomas of the breast. The explanation for these epidemiological findings is not known, but the parallelism between the DMBA-induced rat mammary carcinoma model and the human situation is striking. Abortion would interrupt this process, leaving in the gland undifferentiated structures like those observed in the rat mammary gland, which could render the gland again susceptible to carcinogenesis."</ref> This belief is in contrast to the scientific consensus that there is no evidence suggesting that abortions can cause breast cancer.<ref name="WHO">{{cite web |url=http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs240/en/index.html |title=WHO - Induced abortion does not increase breast cancer risk |accessdate=2007-12-24 |work=who.int |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20071214064635/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs240/en/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-12-14}}</ref><ref name="rcog_2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/induced_abortionfull.pdf |title=The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion |page=43 |format=PDF |work=Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists |accessdate=2008-06-29 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080627022119/http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/induced_abortionfull.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-06-27}}</ref><ref name="oversight">{{cite web |url=http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_breast_cancer.htm |title=Politics & Science - Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration |accessdate=2008-04-14 |work=oversight.house.gov |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080327055020/http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_breast_cancer.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-03-27}}</ref> Despite the scientific community rejecting the hypothesis, many ] advocates continue to argue that a link between abortions and breast cancer exists, in an effort to influence public policy and opinion to further restrict abortions and discourage women from having abortions.<ref name="JASEN">{{cite journal|author= Jasen, P|title=Breast cancer and the politics of abortion in the United States|journal=Med Hist|volume=49|issue=2|pages=423–44|year=2005 |pmid=16562329|pmc= 1251638|doi= 10.1017/S0025727300009145}}</ref> While historically a controversial hypothesis, the debate now is almost entirely political rather than scientific.<ref name="JASEN" /> The abortion-breast cancer hypothesis is the belief that induced abortions increase the risk of developing breast cancer.<ref name="RUSSO_505">{{cite journal |author=Russo J, Russo I |title=Susceptibility of the mammary gland to carcinogenesis. II. Pregnancy interruption as a risk factor in tumor incidence |journal=Am J Pathol |volume=100 |issue=2 |pages=505–506 |year=1980 |pmid=6773421 |pmc=1903536}} "In contrast, abortion is associated with increased risk of carcinomas of the breast. The explanation for these epidemiological findings is not known, but the parallelism between the DMBA-induced rat mammary carcinoma model and the human situation is striking. Abortion would interrupt this process, leaving in the gland undifferentiated structures like those observed in the rat mammary gland, which could render the gland again susceptible to carcinogenesis."</ref> This belief is in contrast to the scientific consensus that there is no evidence suggesting that abortions can cause breast cancer.<ref name="WHO">{{cite web |url=https://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs240/en/index.html |title=Induced abortion does not increase breast cancer risk |access-date=2007-12-24 |work=who.int (WHO)|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071214064635/http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs240/en/index.html <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-12-14}}</ref><ref name="rcog_2000">{{cite web |url=http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/induced_abortionfull.pdf |title=The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion |page=43 |work=Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists |access-date=2008-06-29 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080627022119/http://www.rcog.org.uk/resources/Public/pdf/induced_abortionfull.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2008-06-27}}</ref><ref name="oversight">{{cite web |url=http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_breast_cancer.htm |title=Politics & Science Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration |access-date=2008-04-14 |work=oversight.house.gov |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080327055020/http://oversight.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_breast_cancer.htm |archive-date = 2008-03-27}}</ref> Despite the scientific community rejecting the hypothesis, many ] advocates continue to argue that a link between abortions and breast cancer exists, in an effort to influence public policy and opinion to further restrict abortions and discourage women from having abortions.<ref name="JASEN">{{cite journal|author= Jasen, P|title=Breast cancer and the politics of abortion in the United States|journal=Med Hist|volume=49|issue=2|pages=423–444|year=2005 |pmid=16562329|pmc= 1251638|doi= 10.1017/S0025727300009145}}</ref> While historically a controversial hypothesis, the debate now is almost entirely political rather than scientific.<ref name="JASEN" />


The most notable example of the politicization of this topic was the modification of the ] (NCI) fact sheet by the George W. Bush administration from concluding no link to a more ambiguous assessment regarding the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis,<ref name="HOUSE">{{cite web |url=http://democrats.reform.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/example_breast_cancer.htm |title=Politics & Science - Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration |accessdate=2007-11-04 |work=oversight.house.gov}}</ref> despite the NCI's scientifically-based assessment to the contrary.<ref name="NCI">{{cite web |url=http://www.cancer.gov/cancerinfo/ere-workshop-report |title=Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events Workshop - National Cancer Institute |accessdate=2007-11-04 |format= |work=cancer.gov}}</ref> The most notable example of the politicization of this topic was the modification of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) fact sheet by the George W. Bush administration from concluding no link to a more ambiguous assessment regarding the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis,<ref name="oversight" /> despite the NCI's scientifically based assessment to the contrary.<ref name="NCI">{{cite web |url=https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/ere-workshop-statement |title=Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events Workshop |publisher=National Cancer Institute |access-date=2017-06-07 |work=cancer.gov|date=2003-02-26 }}</ref>


==US House of Representatives Science Oversight and Investigation subcommittee== ===== United States House Science Subcommittee on Oversight =====
In January 2007, the ] announced the formation of a new subcommittee, the ], which handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the committee's entire jurisdiction.<ref>"The Subcommittee handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the entire jurisdiction of the Committee on Science and Technology. This Subcommittee is new for the 110th Congress." </ref> The subcommittee has authority to look into a whole range of important issues, particularly those concerning manipulation of scientific data at Federal agencies. In January 2007, the U.S. ] announced the formation of a new subcommittee, the ], which handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the committee's entire jurisdiction.<ref>"The Subcommittee handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the entire jurisdiction of the Committee on Science and Technology. This Subcommittee is new for the 110th Congress." {{cite web|url=http://science.house.gov/subcommittee/oversight.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326204543/http://science.house.gov/subcommittee/oversight.aspx|archive-date=26 March 2008|title=Investigations and Oversight Committee – 110th Congress}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://science.house.gov/subcommittees/subcommittee-oversight-115th-congress|title=Subcommittee on Oversight 115th Congress|access-date=2017-06-07|archive-date=2017-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170513033259/https://science.house.gov/subcommittees/subcommittee-oversight-115th-congress|url-status=dead}}</ref> The subcommittee has authority to look into a whole range of important issues, particularly those concerning manipulation of scientific data at Federal agencies.


In an interview, subcommittee chairman Rep. Brad Miller pledged to investigate scientific integrity concerns under the Bush Administration. Miller noted that there were multiple reports in the media of the Bush Administration's manipulation of science to advance his political agenda, corrupt advisory panels, and minimize scientific research with federal funds. Miller, as part of the House Committee of Science and Technology, collected evidence of interference with scientific integrity by Bush's political appointees.
In an interview, subcommitte chairman Rep. ] pledged to
{{quote|look into...scientific integrity issues under the Bush Administration. There have been lots of reports in the press of manipulating science to support policy, rigging advisory panels, and suppressing research by federal employees or with federal dollars. I've written about that here before, and you interviewed me a year ago about the manipulation of science. In addition to the published reports, the committee staff has been collecting accounts, some confidential, of interference by political appointees. I hope that more folks will come forward now that Democrats are in the majority and we show we're really going to pursue the issue.<ref> Brad Miller interview. ], January 24, 2007.</ref>}}


==== First Trump administration ====
==Dedications and holidays==
{{Main|Political interference with science agencies by the first Trump administration}}
On January 22, 2013, ] ], a ] and ], introduced a ] to the ] designating February 12, 2013 (]'s 204th birthday) as "]" in order to recognize "the importance of ] in the betterment of ]ity".<ref name="NYT-20130201">{{cite web |last=Oppenheimer |first=Mark|title=Seeing Darwin Through Christian Eyes? It All Depends on the Christian|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/02/us/seeing-darwin-through-christians-eyes.html |date=1 February 2013|publisher=] |accessdate=2 February 2013 }}</ref>


===== Policy =====
==Scholarly studies of the politics of science==
The Trump administration marginalized the role of science in policy making, halted numerous research projects, and saw the departure of scientists who said their work was marginalized or suppressed.<ref name=":61">{{Cite news|last1=Plumer|first1=Brad|last2=Davenport|first2=Coral|date=December 28, 2019|title=Science Under Attack: How Trump Is Sidelining Researchers and Their Work|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/climate/trump-administration-war-on-science.html|access-date=December 29, 2019|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was the first administration since 1941 not to name a ]. In July 2018, Trump nominated meteorologist ] for the position, and Droegemeier was confirmed by the Senate on January 2, 2019, the final day of the ]. He was sworn in by Vice President ] on February 11, 2019. While preparing for talks with ], the White House did so without the assistance of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in ]. The position of chief scientist in the State Department or the Department of Agriculture was not filled. The administration nominated ] to be chief scientist in the ], but he had no scientific background and the White House later withdrew the nomination. The ], the ], and the ] disbanded advisory committees.<ref name=":0" />
The politicization of science is a subset of a broader topic, the politics of science, which has been studied by scholars in a variety of fields, including most notably ]; ]; political science; and the sociology of science, knowledge, and technology. Increasingly in recent decades, these fields have examined the process through which science and technology are shaped. Some of the scholarly work in this area is reviewed in ''The Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'' (1995, 2008), a collection of literature reviews published by the ].<ref>''Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'', Second Edition, Sage Publications (1995)</ref><ref>''Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'', Third Edition, MIT Press (2008)</ref> There is an annual award for books relevant to the politics of science given by the Society for Social Studies of Science called the ].

===== Climate change =====
{{quote box
|title = Global warming
|quote = {{nbsp|3}}{{font|font=Times New Roman| size=12pt |The people that gave you global warming are the same people that gave you ObamaCare!}}
|source = Tweet of Donald Trump<br />Nov. 23, 2013<ref name=Vox_20170601>{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Dylan |title=Donald Trump has tweeted climate change skepticism 115 times. Here's all of it. |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/1/15726472/trump-tweets-global-warming-paris-climate-agreement |work=Vox |date=June 1, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601221159/https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/1/15726472/trump-tweets-global-warming-paris-climate-agreement |archive-date=June 1, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|align = right |width = 33% |border = 1px |fontsize = 100% |bgcolor = #fafafa |title_bg = #fafafa |title_fnt = #202060 |qalign = left |salign = right
}}
The issue of politicized science surfaced during the ] by then Republican candidate ]. Trump stated his intention to strip ]'s Earth Science division of its funding, a move that "would mean the elimination of NASA's world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena".<ref name="milman-2016">{{cite news
| last = Milman | first = Oliver
| date = 23 November 2016
| title = Trump to scrap NASA climate research in crackdown on 'politicized science'
| work = The Guardian
| location = London
| issn = 0261-3077
| url = https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research
| access-date = 2017-02-27
}}</ref> Subsequently, the Trump administration successfully nominated ], who had no background in science and rejected the ], to lead NASA.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=June 9, 2018|title=In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/climate/trump-administration-science.html|access-date=June 9, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Under the Trump administration, the ] prohibited the use of the term "]".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Energy Department climate office bans use of phrase 'climate change'|work=Politico|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/energy-department-climate-change-phrases-banned-236655|access-date=December 16, 2017}}</ref> In March 2020 '']'' reported that an official at the Interior Department has repeatedly inserted climate change-denying language into the agency's scientific reports, such as those that affect water and mineral rights.<ref>{{cite news|last=Tabuchi|first=Hiroko|author-link=Hiroko Tabuchi |date=March 2, 2020|title=A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/climate/goks-uncertainty-language-interior.html|access-date=March 7, 2020}}</ref>

===== Health =====
During the 2020 ], the Trump administration replaced career public affairs staff at the ] with political appointees, including ], who interfered with weekly ] scientific reports and attempted to silence the government's most senior infectious disease expert, ], "sowing distrust of the FDA at a time when health leaders desperately need people to accept a vaccine in order to create the immunity necessary to defeat the novel coronavirus."<ref>{{Cite web|title='It just created a public relations nightmare': Inside Michael Caputo's time at HHS|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/16/how-michael-caputo-shook-up-hhs-416632|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Politico|date=16 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref> One day after President Donald Trump noted that he might dismiss an FDA proposal to improve standards for emergency use of a coronavirus vaccine, the Presidents of the ] of Sciences and Medicine issued a statement expressing alarm at political interference in science during a pandemic, "particularly the overriding of evidence and advice from public health officials and derision of government scientists".<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 September 2020|title=NAS and NAM Presidents Alarmed By Political Interference in Science Amid Pandemic|url=https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2020/09/nas-and-nam-presidents-alarmed-by-political-interference-in-science-amid-pandemic|access-date=2020-09-25|website=National Academies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Owermohle|first=Sarah|title=Science academies sound alarm on political interference|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/24/national-academy-sciences-coronavirus-political-interference-421118|access-date=2020-09-25|website=Politico|date=24 September 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

The administration reportedly sent a list to the ] on words that the agency was prohibited from using in its official communications, including "]", "]", "]", "science-based", "]", "]", and "]".<ref name=":49">{{Cite news|last1=Sun|first1=Lena H.|last2=Eilperin|first2=Juliet|date=December 15, 2017|title=CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html|access-date=December 16, 2017|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The Director of the CDC denied these reports.<ref name="autogenerated32">{{Cite news|title=CDC director says there are 'no banned words' at the agency|work=PBS|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/cdc-director-says-there-are-no-banned-words-at-the-agency|access-date=June 10, 2018}}</ref>

==== Biden administration ====
As part of an effort to "refresh and reinvigorate our national science and technology strategy," President-elect ] announced, before taking office, that he will elevate the role of Director of the ] to a ] level position.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Zimmer |first1=Carl |title=Biden to Elevate Science Adviser to His Cabinet |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/science/biden-science-cabinet.html |access-date=16 January 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=15 January 2021|author1-link=Carl Zimmer }}</ref>

Biden's removal of ] from her role as director of the ] has been criticized as being politically motivated.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/04/18/betsy-weatherhead-removed-white-house/ |title=Betsy Weatherhead, director of National Climate Assessment, removed by White House |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2021-04-18 |accessdate=2021-11-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tollefson |first1=Jeff |title=Influential US climate report moves ahead – under new leadership |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01969-x |journal=Nature |date=July 16, 2021 |doi=10.1038/d41586-021-01969-x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/politics-science-climate-climate-change-environment-and-nature-27e8f788b654cfc4c4967add6d136748|title=Republicans ask why White House removed climate scientist|date=May 4, 2021|website=AP News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Choi |first1=Matthew |last2=Adragna |first2=Anthony |title=Biofuels want in on the action |url=https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-energy/2021/05/04/biofuels-want-in-on-the-action-795059 |work=Politico |date=2021-05-04}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lucas |first1=Fred |title=House GOP seeks answers on Biden White House's ouster of climate official |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-gop-answers-biden-white-house-climate-official-ouster |work=Fox News |date=May 14, 2021}}</ref>

== Scholarly studies of the politics of science ==
The politicization of science is a subset of a broader topic, the politics of science, which has been studied by scholars in a variety of fields, including most notably ]; ]; political science; and the sociology of science, knowledge, and technology. Increasingly in recent decades, these fields have examined the process through which science and technology are shaped. Some of the scholarly work in this area is reviewed in ''The Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'' (1995, 2008), a collection of literature reviews published by the ].<ref>''Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'', Second Edition, Sage Publications (1995)</ref><ref>''Handbook of Science & Technology Studies'', Third Edition, MIT Press (2008)</ref> There is an annual award for books relevant to the politics of science given by the Society for Social Studies of Science called the ].


== See also == == See also ==
{{refbegin|3}} {{div col}}
* {{annotated link|Antiscience}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Critical mathematics pedagogy}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Denialism}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Framing (social sciences)}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Gibson's law}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Governmental impact on science during World War II}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Kansas evolution hearings}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|List of books about the politics of science}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|List of scholarly publishing stings}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Policy-based evidence making}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic}}
* '']''
* {{annotated link|The Republican War on Science|''The Republican War on Science''}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Science by press conference}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Scientific dissent}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Scientific misconduct}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Scientists and Engineers for America}}
* ]
* {{annotated link|Spin (propaganda)}}
* ]
{{refend}} {{end div col}}


==References== == References ==
{{Reflist|2}} {{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* ], ''Fool Me Twice: Fighting The Assault On Science In America'', Rodale Books, 2011, {{ISBN|978-1-60529-217-5}}
* ], "Pissing in the Snow" (review of Audra J. Wolfe, ''Freedom's Laboratory: The Cold War Struggle for the Soul of Science'', Johns Hopkins, January 2019, {{ISBN|978-1-4214-2673-0}}, 302 pp.), '']'', vol. 41, no. 14 (18 July 2019), pp.&nbsp;31–33.


== External links == == External links ==
{{refbegin|2}} {{refbegin|2}}
* initiative of the ]
* . Website by US Congressman Henry Waxman and the Government Reform Committee.
* – '']''
* ] (2004).
* ] (2004).
* initiative of the ]
* {{cite book |title=Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. James Hansen and the Truth of Global Warming|last=Bowen |first=Mark |author-link=Mark Bowen (writer)|year=2008 |publisher=Dutton |location=New York |isbn=978-0-525-95014-1|title-link=James Hansen }}
* - ]
* ] (2004).
* {{cite book |title=Censoring Science: Inside the Political Attack on Dr. ] and the Truth of Global Warming|last=Bowen |first=Mark |authorlink=Mark Bowen (writer)|year=2008 |publisher=Dutton |location=New York |isbn=978-0-525-95014-1}}
{{refend}} {{refend}}


==Further reading==
* ] ''Fool Me Twice: Fighting The Assault On Science In America'' Rodale Books (2011) ISBN 978-1-60529-217-5

{{Lysenkoism}}
{{Science and technology studies}} {{Science and technology studies}}
{{Lysenkoism}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Politicization Of Science}}
] ]
] ]
]
] ]
] ]
]
] ]
] ]
]

Latest revision as of 01:45, 26 December 2024

Use of science for political purposes Not to be confused with political science or science policy. For the process by which ideas, entities and facts become political, see politicization.
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
Globe icon.The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this article, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new article, as appropriate. (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article. (January 2022)
(Learn how and when to remove this message)

The politicization of science for political gain occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of science may also negatively affect academic and scientific freedom, and as a result it is considered taboo to mix politics with science. Historically, groups have conducted various campaigns to promote their interests, many times in defiance of scientific consensus, and in an effort to manipulate public policy.

Overview

Many factors can act as facets of the politicization of science. These can range, for example, from populist anti-intellectualism and perceived threats to religious belief to postmodernist subjectivism, fear for business interests, institutional academic ideological biases or potentially implicit bias amongst scientific researchers.

Politicization occurs as scientific information is presented with emphasis on the uncertainty associated with the interpretation of scientific evidence. The emphasis capitalizes on the lack of consensus, which influences the way the studies are perceived. Chris Mooney describes how this point is sometimes intentionally ignored as a part an "Orwellian tactic." Organizations and politicians seek to disclaim all discussion on some issues as 'the more probable conclusion is still uncertain' as opposed to 'conclusions are most scientifically likely' in order to further discredit scientific studies.

Tactics such as shifting conversation, failing to acknowledge facts, and capitalizing on doubt of scientific consensus have been used to gain more attention for views that have been undermined by scientific evidence. "Merchants of Doubt," ideology-based interest groups that claim expertise on scientific issues, have run successful "disinformation campaigns" in which they highlight the inherent uncertainty of science to cast doubt on scientific issues such as human-caused climate change, even though the scientific community has reached virtual consensus that humans play a role in climate change.

William R. Freudenburg and colleagues have written about politicization of science as a rhetorical technique and states that it is an attempt to shift the burden of proof in an argument. He offers the example of cigarette lobbyists opposing laws that would discourage smoking. The lobbyists trivialize evidence as uncertain, emphasizing lack of conclusion. Freudenberg concludes that politicians and lobby groups are too often able to make "successful efforts to argue for full 'scientific certainty' before a regulation can be said to be 'justified' and maintain that what is needed is a balanced approach that carefully considers the risks of both Type 1 and Type 2 errors in a situation while noting that scientific conclusions are always tentative.

Politicization by advocacy groups

A political tactic, sometimes used to delay the implementation of legislation to control potentially harmful activities, is the "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Method" (SCAM). In many cases, there is a degree of uncertainty in scientific findings and this can be exploited to delay action, perhaps for many years, by demanding more "certainty" before action is taken.

Climate change

Main article: Global warming controversy See also: I'm not a scientist Democrats and Republicans have long differed in views of climate change, with the gap widening in the late 2010s, and Democrats three times more likely to view it as human-caused.The sharp divide over the existence of and responsibility for global warming and climate change falls largely along political lines. Overall, 60% of Americans surveyed said oil and gas companies were "completely or mostly responsible" for climate change. Opinion about human causation of climate change increased substantially with education among Democrats, but not among Republicans. Conversely, opinions favoring becoming carbon neutral declined substantially with age among Republicans, but not among Democrats.National political divides on the seriousness of climate change consistently correlate with political ideology, with right-wing opinion being more negative.

Both mainstream climatologists and their critics have accused each other of politicizing the science behind climate change. There is a scientific consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused primarily by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases.

In 1991, a US corporate coalition including the National Coal Association, the Western Fuels Association and Edison Electrical Institute created a public relations organization called the "Information Council on the Environment" (ICE). ICE launched a $500,000 advertising campaign to, in ICE's own words, "reposition global warming as theory (not fact)." Critics of industry groups have charged that the claims about a global warming controversy are part of a deliberate effort to reduce the impact any international treaty, such as the Kyoto Protocol, might have on their business interests.

In 2006, Guardian columnist George Monbiot reported that according to data found in official Exxon documents, 124 organizations have taken money from ExxonMobil or worked closely with those that have, and that "These organizations take a consistent line on climate change: that the science is contradictory, the scientists are split, environmentalists are charlatans, liars or lunatics, and if governments took action to prevent global warming, they would be endangering the global economy for no good reason. The findings these organisations dislike are labelled 'junk science'. The findings they welcome are labelled 'sound science'." The "selective use of data", cherry picking, is identified as a notable form of scientific abuse by the Pacific Institute, an organization created to provide independent research and policy analysis on issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security.

Intelligent design

Main articles: Intelligent design and Teach the controversy

The intelligent design movement associated with the Discovery Institute, attempts to "defeat materialist world view" represented by the theory of evolution in favor of "a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions". The Discovery Institute portrays evolution as a "theory in crisis" with scientists criticizing evolution and that "fairness" and "equal time" requires educating students about "the controversy."

A cornerstone of modern scientific biological theory is that all forms of life on Earth are related by common descent with modification. While many valid criticisms to the theory of evolution have existed throughout time, often certain ideological proponents seek to expand the scope of these disagreements in order to draw doubt onto the entire theory. For example, in the United States, there is a legal precedent of those who sought to discredit the teaching of evolution in classrooms by emphasizing so-called flaws in the theory of evolution or disagreements within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the mainstream scientific community about the validity of the main pillars of theory of evolution at this time. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is thus not primarily a scientific one. The 2005 ruling in the Dover trial, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, where the claims of intelligent design proponents were considered by a United States federal court concluded that intelligent design is not science, that it "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents", and concluded that the school district's promotion of it therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Tobacco and cancer

A cigarette carton warns about the health risks of smoking. Public awareness was delayed by a SCAM (Scientific Certainty Argumentation Method).

By the mid-1950s there was a scientific consensus that smoking promotes lung cancer, but the tobacco industry fought the findings, both in the public eye and within the scientific community. Tobacco companies funded think tanks and lobbying groups, started health reassurance campaigns, ran advertisements in medical journals, and researched alternate explanations for lung cancer, such as pollution, asbestos and even pet birds. Denying the case against tobacco was "closed," they called for more research as a tactic to delay regulation. John Horgan, notes a rhetoric tactic that has been used by tobacco companies. It is summarized in a line that appeared in a confidential memo from a tobacco company, in 1969, when they sought to cast doubt on evidence that supports smoking causes cancer. It read, "Doubt is our product since it is the best means of competing with the 'body of fact' that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy."

Eugenics

Main article: Eugenics

Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler was well known for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of racial hygiene. The Nazis manipulated scientific research in Germany, by forcing some scholars to emigrate, and by allocating funding for research based on ideological rather than scientific merit.

In the early 20th century, Eugenics enjoyed substantial international support, from leading politicians and scientists. The First International Congress of Eugenics in 1912 was supported by many prominent persons, including its president Leonard Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin; honorary vice-president Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty and future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Auguste Forel, famous Swiss pathologist; Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone; among other prominent people.

The level of support for eugenics research by the Nazis prompted an American eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of the American program, with the complaint that "the Germans are beating us at our own game".

There was a strong connection between American and Nazi eugenics research. Nazis based their eugenics program on the United States' programs of forced sterilization, especially on the eugenics laws that had been enacted in California.

Social justice

Some critics argue that science has been politicized by social justice advocates. David Randall, director of research at the politically conservative advocacy group the National Association of Scholars, said that the emphasis on pursuing social justice and political activism "threatens the very definition of science as primarily a search for truth". In October 2021, The New York Times reported a rise in calls for "citational justice" within academic communities, which the article defines as an effort by professors and graduate students "to cite more Black, Latino, Asian and Native American scholars and in some cases refuse to acknowledge in footnotes the research of those who hold distasteful views." Some researchers have defended these efforts against the charge of politicization, arguing that science has always been inherently political.

Government politicization

Globe icon.The examples and perspective in this section deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. You may improve this section, discuss the issue on the talk page, or create a new section, as appropriate. (November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Soviet Union

Main article: Suppressed research in the Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, scientific research was under strict political control. A number of research areas were declared "bourgeois pseudoscience" and forbidden. This has led to significant setbacks for the Soviet science, notably in biology due to ban on genetics (see "Lysenkoism") and in computer science, which drastically influenced the Soviet economy and technology.

United States

The General Social Survey (GSS) of 1974 recorded that conservatives had the highest rates of trust in science between the three major political demographics: conservatives, liberals, and moderates. This study was repeated annually between 1972 and 1994, and biannually from 1994 until 2010. In 2010, when the same study was repeated, conservatives' trust rates had decreased from 49% to 38%, moderates' trust rates from 45% to 40%, and liberals' trust rates staying relatively stable, rising slightly from 48% to 50%.

The study by Gordon Gauchat, which investigates time trends in the public trust of science in the United States, suggests that the increase of distrust of conservatives can be attributed to two cultural shifts. The first was during the post-Reagan era when the New Right emerged, and the second during the G.W. Bush era when the NR intensified and conservatives commenced the "war on science".

Barack Obama and other politicians, since Bush's presidency, have expressed their concerns with the politicization of science in both the public and government sphere. In 2011, during his State of the Union speech, Obama discussed his dissatisfaction of the relationships between organized science, private economic interests, and the government.

A 2024 analysis found that 100 U.S. Representatives and 23 U.S. Senators—23% of the 535 members of Congress—were climate change deniers. All were Republicans.

George W. Bush administration

In 2004, The Denver Post reported that the George W. Bush administration "has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee." At least 20 of these former industry advocates helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that benefit their former industries. "They knew which changes to make because they had pushed for them as industry advocates."

Also in 2004, the scientific advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report, Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science which charged the following:

A growing number of scientists, policy makers, and technical specialists both inside and outside the government allege that the current Bush administration has suppressed or distorted the scientific analyses of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy. In addition, these experts contend that irregularities in the appointment of scientific advisors and advisory panels are threatening to upset the legally mandated balance of these bodies.

A petition, signed on February 18, 2004, by more than 9,000 scientists, including 49 Nobel laureates and 63 National Medal of Science recipients, followed the report. The petition stated:

When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals, the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its decisions. This has been done by placing people who are professionally unqualified or who have clear conflicts of interest in official posts and on scientific advisory committees; by disbanding existing advisory committees; by censoring and suppressing reports by the government's own scientists; and by simply not seeking independent scientific advice. Other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front. Furthermore, in advocating policies that are not scientifically sound, the administration has sometimes misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies.

The same year, Francesca Grifo, executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Scientific Integrity Program, stated "We have reports that stay in draft form and don't get out to the public. We have reports that are changed. We have reports that are ignored and overwritten."

In response to criticisms, President Bush in 2006 unveiled a campaign in his State of the Union Address to promote scientific research and education to ensure American competitiveness in the world, vowing to "double the federal commitment to the most critical basic research programs in the physical sciences over the next 10 years."

Surgeon General

Richard Carmona, the first surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush, publicly accused the administration in July 2007 of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Carmona testified.

Although he did not make personal accusations, the Washington Post reported on July 29 that the official who blocked at least one of Carmona's reports was William R. Steiger.

Food and Drug Administration

In July 2006 the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) released survey results that demonstrate pervasive political influence of science at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Of the 997 FDA scientists who responded to the survey, nearly one fifth (18 percent) said that they "have been asked, for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information or their conclusions in a FDA scientific document." This is the third survey Union of Concerned Scientists has conducted to examine inappropriate interference with science at federal agencies.

The Department of Health and Human Services also conducted a survey addressing the same topic which generated similar findings. According to USA Today, a survey of Food and Drug Administration scientists by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists found that many scientists have been pressured to approve or reject new drugs despite their scientific findings concerns. In July 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists released survey results that they said "demonstrate pervasive political influence of science" at the Food and Drug Administration.

United States Department of the Interior
Main article: Julie A. MacDonald

On May 1, 2007, deputy assistant secretary at the United States Department of the Interior Julie MacDonald resigned after the Interior Department Inspector General, Honorable Earl E. Devaney, reported that MacDonald broke federal rules by giving non-public, internal government documents to oil industry and property rights groups, and manipulated scientific findings to favor Bush policy goals and assist land developers. On November 29, 2007, another report by Devaney found that MacDonald could have also benefitted financially from a decision she was involved with to remove the Sacramento splittail fish from the federal endangered species list.

MacDonald's conduct violated the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 5 C.F.R. § 2635.703, Use of nonpublic information, and 5 C.F.R. § 2635.101, Basic obligation of public service. MacDonald resigned a week before a House congressional oversight committee was to hold a hearing on accusations that she had "violated the Endangered Species Act, censored science and mistreated staff of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."

Climate change

In December 2007, the Christian Science Monitor reported that at least since 2003, and especially after Hurricane Katrina, the George W. Bush administration broadly attempted to control which climate scientists could speak with reporters, as well as edited scientists' congressional testimony on climate science and key legal opinions. Those who have studied organizations that set up to delay action and manufacture uncertainty about the well-established scientific consensus have divided their tactics into three steps: first, deny that there is a problem, second, make the case that there are benefits involved, and, third, insist that there is nothing that can be done.

In a study, "The legitimacy of environmental scientists in the public sphere" by Gordon Gauchat, Timothy O'Brien, and Oriol Mirosa, the researchers conclude that attitudes about environmental scientists as policy advisers are highly politicized. Their results demonstrate that, to be perceived by the public as a reputable policy advisor, the public's perception of their integrity and understanding weigh more strongly than their agreement with scientific consensus.

Waxman report

In August 2003, United States, Democratic Congressman Henry A. Waxman and the staff of the Government Reform Committee released a report concluding that the administration of George W. Bush had politicized science and sex education. The report accuses the administration of modifying performance measures for abstinence-based programs to make them look more effective. The report also found that the Bush administration had appointed Dr. Joseph McIlhaney, a prominent advocate of abstinence-only program, to the Advisory Committee to the director of the Centers for Disease Control. According to the report, information about comprehensive sex education was removed from the CDC's website.

Other issues considered for removal included agricultural pollution, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and breast cancer; the report found that a National Cancer Institute website has been changed to reflect the administration view that there may be a risk of breast cancer associated with abortions. The website was updated after protests and now holds that no such risk has been found in recent, well-designed studies.

Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis
Main article: Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis

The abortion-breast cancer hypothesis is the belief that induced abortions increase the risk of developing breast cancer. This belief is in contrast to the scientific consensus that there is no evidence suggesting that abortions can cause breast cancer. Despite the scientific community rejecting the hypothesis, many anti-abortion advocates continue to argue that a link between abortions and breast cancer exists, in an effort to influence public policy and opinion to further restrict abortions and discourage women from having abortions. While historically a controversial hypothesis, the debate now is almost entirely political rather than scientific.

The most notable example of the politicization of this topic was the modification of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) fact sheet by the George W. Bush administration from concluding no link to a more ambiguous assessment regarding the abortion-breast cancer hypothesis, despite the NCI's scientifically based assessment to the contrary.

United States House Science Subcommittee on Oversight

In January 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology announced the formation of a new subcommittee, the Science Subcommittee on Oversight, which handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the committee's entire jurisdiction. The subcommittee has authority to look into a whole range of important issues, particularly those concerning manipulation of scientific data at Federal agencies.

In an interview, subcommittee chairman Rep. Brad Miller pledged to investigate scientific integrity concerns under the Bush Administration. Miller noted that there were multiple reports in the media of the Bush Administration's manipulation of science to advance his political agenda, corrupt advisory panels, and minimize scientific research with federal funds. Miller, as part of the House Committee of Science and Technology, collected evidence of interference with scientific integrity by Bush's political appointees.

First Trump administration

Main article: Political interference with science agencies by the first Trump administration
Policy

The Trump administration marginalized the role of science in policy making, halted numerous research projects, and saw the departure of scientists who said their work was marginalized or suppressed. It was the first administration since 1941 not to name a Science Advisor to the President. In July 2018, Trump nominated meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier for the position, and Droegemeier was confirmed by the Senate on January 2, 2019, the final day of the 115th United States Congress. He was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on February 11, 2019. While preparing for talks with Kim Jong-un, the White House did so without the assistance of a White House science adviser or senior counselor trained in nuclear physics. The position of chief scientist in the State Department or the Department of Agriculture was not filled. The administration nominated Sam Clovis to be chief scientist in the United States Department of Agriculture, but he had no scientific background and the White House later withdrew the nomination. The United States Department of the Interior, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration disbanded advisory committees.

Climate change
Global warming

   The people that gave you global warming are the same people that gave you ObamaCare!

Tweet of Donald Trump
Nov. 23, 2013

The issue of politicized science surfaced during the 2016 United States presidential campaign by then Republican candidate Donald Trump. Trump stated his intention to strip NASA's Earth Science division of its funding, a move that "would mean the elimination of NASA's world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena". Subsequently, the Trump administration successfully nominated Jim Bridenstine, who had no background in science and rejected the scientific consensus on climate change, to lead NASA. Under the Trump administration, the Department of Energy prohibited the use of the term "climate change". In March 2020 The New York Times reported that an official at the Interior Department has repeatedly inserted climate change-denying language into the agency's scientific reports, such as those that affect water and mineral rights.

Health

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Trump administration replaced career public affairs staff at the Department of Health and Human Services with political appointees, including Michael Caputo, who interfered with weekly Centers for Disease Control scientific reports and attempted to silence the government's most senior infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, "sowing distrust of the FDA at a time when health leaders desperately need people to accept a vaccine in order to create the immunity necessary to defeat the novel coronavirus." One day after President Donald Trump noted that he might dismiss an FDA proposal to improve standards for emergency use of a coronavirus vaccine, the Presidents of the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine issued a statement expressing alarm at political interference in science during a pandemic, "particularly the overriding of evidence and advice from public health officials and derision of government scientists".

The administration reportedly sent a list to the CDC on words that the agency was prohibited from using in its official communications, including "transgender", "fetus", "evidence-based", "science-based", "vulnerable", "entitlement", and "diversity". The Director of the CDC denied these reports.

Biden administration

As part of an effort to "refresh and reinvigorate our national science and technology strategy," President-elect Joe Biden announced, before taking office, that he will elevate the role of Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to a cabinet level position.

Biden's removal of Betsy Weatherhead from her role as director of the National Climate Assessment has been criticized as being politically motivated.

Scholarly studies of the politics of science

The politicization of science is a subset of a broader topic, the politics of science, which has been studied by scholars in a variety of fields, including most notably Science and Technology Studies; history of science; political science; and the sociology of science, knowledge, and technology. Increasingly in recent decades, these fields have examined the process through which science and technology are shaped. Some of the scholarly work in this area is reviewed in The Handbook of Science & Technology Studies (1995, 2008), a collection of literature reviews published by the Society for Social Studies of Science. There is an annual award for books relevant to the politics of science given by the Society for Social Studies of Science called the Rachel Carson Prize.

See also

References

  1. "Evolution or design debate heats up". Discovery Institute. December 1, 2004.
  2. "Some bills seek to discredit evolution by emphasizing so-called "flaws" in the theory of evolution or "disagreements" within the scientific community. Others insist that teachers have absolute freedom within their classrooms and cannot be disciplined for teaching non-scientific "alternatives" to evolution. A number of bills require that students be taught to "critically analyze" evolution or to understand "the controversy." But there is no significant controversy within the scientific community about the validity of the theory of evolution. The current controversy surrounding the teaching of evolution is not a scientific one." "AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution" (PDF). American Association for the Advancement of Science. 16 February 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012.
  3. Intelligent Judging – Evolution in the Classroom and the Courtroom George J. Annas, New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 354:2277–2281 May 25, 2006
  4. Goldberg, Jeanne (2017). "The Politicization of Scientific Issues: Looking through Galileo's Lens or through the Imaginary Looking Glass". Skeptical Inquirer. 41 (5): 34–39. Archived from the original on 2018-08-16. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. Bolsen, Toby; Druckman, James N. (2015). "Counteracting the Politicization of Science". Journal of Communication (65): 746.
  6. Horgan, John (2005-12-18). "The Republican War on Science". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  7. van der Linden, Sander; Leiserowitz, Anthony; Rosenthal, Seth; Maibach, Edward (2017). "Inoculating the Public against Misinformation about Climate Change". Global Challenges. 1 (2): 1. doi:10.1002/gch2.201600008. PMC 6607159. PMID 31565263.
  8. ^ Freudenberg, William R.; Gramling, Robert; Davidson, Debra J. (2008). "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt". Sociological Inquiry. 78 (1): 2–38. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00219.x.
  9. Freudenburg, William R.; Gramling, Robert; Davidson, Debra J. (2008). "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt". Sociological Inquiry. 78: 2–38. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00219.x.
  10. "As Economic Concerns Recede, Environmental Protection Rises on the Public's Policy Agenda / Partisan gap on dealing with climate change gets even wider". PewResearch.org. Pew Research Center. 13 February 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. (Discontinuity resulted from survey changing in 2015 from reciting "global warming" to "climate change".)
  11. Saad, Lydia (20 April 2023). "A Steady Six in 10 Say Global Warming's Effects Have Begun". Gallup, Inc. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023.
  12. ^ McGreal, Chris (26 October 2021). "Revealed: 60% of Americans say oil firms are to blame for the climate crisis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Source: Guardian/Vice/CCN/YouGov poll. Note: ±4% margin of error.
  13. ^ Tyson, Alec; Funk, Cary; Kennedy, Brian (1 March 2022). "Americans Largely Favor U.S. Taking Steps To Become Carbon Neutral by 2050 / Appendix (Detailed charts and tables)". Pew Research. Archived from the original on 18 April 2022.
  14. Poushter, Jacob; Fagan, Moira; Gubbala, Sneha (31 August 2022). "Climate Change Remains Top Global Threat Across 19-Country Survey". pewresearch.org. Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on 31 August 2022. Only statistically significant differences shown.
  15. Oreskes, Naomi (December 2004). "Beyond the Ivory Tower: The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change". Science. 306 (5702): 1686. doi:10.1126/science.1103618. PMID 15576594.
  16. America's Climate Choices: Panel on Advancing the Science of Climate Change; National Research Council (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-14588-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. "Understanding and Responding to Climate Change" (PDF). United States National Academy of Sciences. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  18. "The PR Plot to Overheat the Earth". 2008.
  19. The Denial Industry The Guardian, September 19, 2006
  20. Peter H. Gleick (8 March 2007). "The Political and Selective Use of Data: Cherry-Picking Climate Information in the White House" (PDF). Pacific Institute.
  21. "Our Priorities".
  22. "Wedge Document" (PDF). Discovery Institute. 1999. – cited in Handley P. Evolution or design debate heats up. Archived 2011-03-11 at the Wayback Machine The Times of Oman, 7 March 2005.
  23. National Academy of Science Institute of Medicine (2008). Science, Evolution, and Creationism. National Academy Press. ISBN 978-0-309-10586-6.
  24. "AAAS Statement on the Teaching of Evolution" (PDF). American Association for the Advancement of Science. 16 February 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 February 2012.
  25. "That this controversy is one largely manufactured by the proponents of creationism and intelligent design may not matter, and as long as the controversy is taught in classes on current affairs, politics, or religion, and not in science classes, neither scientists nor citizens should be concerned." Intelligent Judging – Evolution in the Classroom and the Courtroom George J. Annas, New England Journal of Medicine, Volume 354:2277–2281 May 25, 2006
  26. Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, 04 cv 2688 (December 20, 2005)., Conclusion of Ruling.
  27. Freudenburg, William R. (2008). "Scientific Certainty Argumentation Methods (SCAMs): Science and the Politics of Doubt". Sociological Inquiry. 78: 2–38. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2008.00219.x.
  28. "Tobacco companies obstructed science, history professor says". medicalxpress.com.
  29. John Horgan (18 December 2005). "The Republican War on Science – Book Review". Sunday Book Review, Political Science.
  30. "Original "Doubt is our product..." memo". University of California, San Francisco. 21 August 1969. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  31. Ute Deichmann; Thomas Dunlap (1999). Biologists Under Hitler. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-07405-7.
  32. Blom, Philipp (2008). The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West, 1900–1914. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Ltd. p. 334. ISBN 978-0-7710-1630-1.
  33. Lynn, Richard (2001). Eugenics: a reassessment. New York: Praeger. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-275-95822-0. By the middle decades of the twentieth century, eugenics had become widely accepted throughout the whole of the economically developed world, with the exception of the Soviet Union.
  34. Black, Edwin (November 9, 2003). "Eugenics and the Nazis – the California connection". San Francisco Chronicle.
  35. Shermer, Michael (2016-03-01). "Is Social Science Politically Biased?". Scientific American.
  36. Krylov, Anna I. (2021-06-10). "The Peril of Politicizing Science". The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 12 (22): 5371–5376. doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475. ISSN 1948-7185. PMID 34107688. S2CID 235392946.
  37. Honeycutt, Nathan; Jussim, Lee (2020-01-02). "A Model of Political Bias in Social Science Research". Psychological Inquiry. 31 (1): 73–85. doi:10.1080/1047840X.2020.1722600. ISSN 1047-840X. S2CID 216273572.
  38. Cohen, Patricia (September 21, 2008). "Conservatives Try New Tack on Campuses". The New York Times. Retrieved September 22, 2008.
  39. Curtin, Dave (8 April 2001). "CU dean resigns, rips state". denverpost.com. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  40. "Politicized Science by David Randall | NAS". www.nas.org. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  41. Powell, Michael (2021-10-20). "M.I.T.'s Choice of Lecturer Ignited Criticism. So Did Its Decision to Cancel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  42. Hansson, Lena; Yacoubian, Hagop A. (2020), Yacoubian, Hagop A.; Hansson, Lena (eds.), "Nature of Science for Social Justice: Why, What and How?", Nature of Science for Social Justice, Science: Philosophy, History and Education, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–21, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-47260-3_1, ISBN 978-3-030-47260-3, S2CID 226721222
  43. Ball, Philip (2021-07-15). "Science Is Political, and We Must Deal with It". The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 12 (27): 6336–6340. doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02017. ISSN 1948-7185. PMID 34261323. S2CID 235906420.
  44. "'Don't politicize STEM! Stick to the science, not social issues'". neuro.hms.harvard.edu. 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  45. Glass, Bentley (May 1962). "Scientists in Politics". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 18 (5): 3. Bibcode:1962BuAtS..18e...2G. doi:10.1080/00963402.1962.11454353.
  46. Krylov, Anna I. (2021-06-10). "The Peril of Politicizing Science". The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 12 (22): 5371–5376. doi:10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01475. ISSN 1948-7185. PMID 34107688. S2CID 235392946.
  47. Gauchat, Gordon (2012). "Politicization of Science in the Public Sphere: A Study of Public Trust in the United States, 1974 to 2010" (PDF). American Sociological Review. 77 (2): 168–187. doi:10.1177/0003122412438225. S2CID 17725502.
  48. ^ So, Kat (18 July 2024). "Climate Deniers of the 118th Congress". American Progress. Archived from the original on 5 August 2024.
  49. Anne C. Mulkern (May 23, 2004). "When Advocates Become Regulators". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on 1 February 2010.
  50. "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking: An 'Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science'" (PDF). Union of Concerned Scientists. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2006.
  51. "Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking" Union of Concerned Scientists
  52. "Scientific Integrity Statement Signatories". Union of Concerned Scientists. Archived from the original on 29 August 2005.
  53. "Bush Science Push Fails to Transform Critics" Don Gonyea. National Public Radio, Weekend Edition Sunday, February 26, 2006.
  54. Space Studies Board (2007). Space Studies Board Annual Report 2006. National Academy of Sciences. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-309-11555-1.
  55. Harris, Gardiner (July 11, 2007). "Surgeon General Sees 4-Year Term as Compromised". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  56. Dunham, Will (July 10, 2007). "Former Bush surgeon general says he was muzzled". Reuters. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  57. "Science vs. politics gets down and dirty". USA Today. 7 August 2007. Archived from the original on 23 June 2015. Note: archive.org backup has much better formatting than live URL
  58. Bush Aide Blocked Report, Christopher Lee and Marc Kaufman, The Washington Post, July 29, 2007.
  59. ^ "Media Center | Union of Concerned Scientists". www.ucsusa.org.
  60. ^ Schmit, Julie (December 17, 2004). "FDA scientists question safety". USA Today. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  61. "Scientific Integrity at Risk: The Food and Drug Administration" (PDF). Union of Concerned Scientists. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 April 2016.
  62. "Report: Interior official blasted for twisting environmental data". USA Today. March 30, 2007.
  63. Pegg, JR (29 November 2007). "U.S. Endangered Species Program Burdened by Political Meddling". Archived from the original on August 6, 2020.
  64. "Report of Investigation: Julie MacDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Fish, Wildlife and Parks" (PDF). US Department of the Interior. March 23, 2007.
  65. "Interior Dept. official quits ahead of hearing". AP. 1 May 2007.
  66. "Study finds White House manipulation on climate science". Christian Science Monitor. December 12, 2007.
  67. Global Warming is Good for You Archived 2021-03-19 at the Wayback Machine Dylan Otto Krider, Houston Press, 2002
  68. ^ "Politics and Science in the Bush Administration" (PDF). United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 2004-09-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  69. "Politics and Science: Investigating the Bush Administration's Promotion of Ideology Over Science". August 2003. Archived from the original on 7 December 2006.
  70. Russo J, Russo I (1980). "Susceptibility of the mammary gland to carcinogenesis. II. Pregnancy interruption as a risk factor in tumor incidence". Am J Pathol. 100 (2): 505–506. PMC 1903536. PMID 6773421. "In contrast, abortion is associated with increased risk of carcinomas of the breast. The explanation for these epidemiological findings is not known, but the parallelism between the DMBA-induced rat mammary carcinoma model and the human situation is striking. Abortion would interrupt this process, leaving in the gland undifferentiated structures like those observed in the rat mammary gland, which could render the gland again susceptible to carcinogenesis."
  71. "Induced abortion does not increase breast cancer risk". who.int (WHO). Archived from the original on 2007-12-14. Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  72. "The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion" (PDF). Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. p. 43. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  73. ^ "Politics & Science – Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration". oversight.house.gov. Archived from the original on 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  74. ^ Jasen, P (2005). "Breast cancer and the politics of abortion in the United States". Med Hist. 49 (2): 423–444. doi:10.1017/S0025727300009145. PMC 1251638. PMID 16562329.
  75. "Summary Report: Early Reproductive Events Workshop". cancer.gov. National Cancer Institute. 2003-02-26. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  76. "The Subcommittee handles investigative and oversight activities on matters covering the entire jurisdiction of the Committee on Science and Technology. This Subcommittee is new for the 110th Congress." "Investigations and Oversight Committee – 110th Congress". Archived from the original on 26 March 2008.
  77. "Subcommittee on Oversight – 115th Congress". Archived from the original on 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  78. Plumer, Brad; Davenport, Coral (December 28, 2019). "Science Under Attack: How Trump Is Sidelining Researchers and Their Work". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  79. ^ "In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice". The New York Times. June 9, 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  80. Matthews, Dylan (June 1, 2017). "Donald Trump has tweeted climate change skepticism 115 times. Here's all of it". Vox. Archived from the original on June 1, 2017.
  81. Milman, Oliver (23 November 2016). "Trump to scrap NASA climate research in crackdown on 'politicized science'". The Guardian. London. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  82. "Energy Department climate office bans use of phrase 'climate change'". Politico. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  83. Tabuchi, Hiroko (March 2, 2020). "A Trump Insider Embeds Climate Denial in Scientific Research". The New York Times. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  84. "'It just created a public relations nightmare': Inside Michael Caputo's time at HHS". Politico. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  85. "NAS and NAM Presidents Alarmed By Political Interference in Science Amid Pandemic". National Academies. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  86. Owermohle, Sarah (24 September 2020). "Science academies sound alarm on political interference". Politico. Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  87. Sun, Lena H.; Eilperin, Juliet (December 15, 2017). "CDC gets list of forbidden words: fetus, transgender, diversity". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  88. "CDC director says there are 'no banned words' at the agency". PBS. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  89. Zimmer, Carl (15 January 2021). "Biden to Elevate Science Adviser to His Cabinet". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  90. "Betsy Weatherhead, director of National Climate Assessment, removed by White House". The Washington Post. 2021-04-18. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  91. Tollefson, Jeff (July 16, 2021). "Influential US climate report moves ahead – under new leadership". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-021-01969-x.
  92. "Republicans ask why White House removed climate scientist". AP News. May 4, 2021.
  93. Choi, Matthew; Adragna, Anthony (2021-05-04). "Biofuels want in on the action". Politico.
  94. Lucas, Fred (May 14, 2021). "House GOP seeks answers on Biden White House's ouster of climate official". Fox News.
  95. Handbook of Science & Technology Studies, Second Edition, Sage Publications (1995)
  96. Handbook of Science & Technology Studies, Third Edition, MIT Press (2008)

Further reading

External links

Science and technology studies
Economics
History
Philosophy
Sociology
Science
studies
Technology
studies
Policy
Lysenkoism
Lysenkoists
Dissidents
Concepts
Soviet policies
Categories: