WASHINGTON — More than 60 leading scientists, including a dozen Nobel laureates, on Wednesday accused the Bush administration of frequently suppressing or distorting scientific analysis from federal agencies when it disagrees with administration policies.
The research cited by the Union of Concerned Scientists covered a range of issues, from climate change to HIV/AIDS.
"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," the scientists said in a statement.
The administration, they said, distorted science by putting people with conflicts of interest into official positions, censoring and suppressing reports by its own scientists and failing to seek independent advice.
"Other administrations have, on occasion, engaged in such practices, but not so systematically nor on so wide a front," the statement said. "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."
Along with the statement, the Union of Concerned Scientists released a report chronicling examples of what it termed the suppression or distortion of science under the Bush administration -- including at the Agriculture Department, the Environ- mental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
White House officials defended the administration's record on science and stressed that the examples cited were not representative.
"The sweeping conclusions of the [Union of Concerned Scientists'] statement go far beyond reasonable interpretations of the issues it recites," said John H. Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "This is a collection of disconnected cases that have rubbed somebody the wrong way."
One example he cited in the administration's defense was the research strategy it has crafted to study climate change and its impact.
A report published Wednesday by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences applauded the strategy, and panelists said they had not perceived political influence affecting the administration's blueprint for studying the issue.
"This administration has strongly incorporated science in its policy-making processes and encourages sound, independent science," Marburger said.
