Politicizing Science: The Alchemy of Policymaking

305 Pages·2003·1.65 MB·English

by  MICHAEL GOUGH

HooverPress:Gough/Alchemy DP0HGOUAPFOR3 rev3.1 pageviii
viii Foreword
As the essays in this book illuminate, however, the interac-
tionsbetweenpoliticsandsciencedonotalwaysbenefitsociety.
Politicianscanfocusonscientificobservationsthatprovidesup-
portforadecisionthattheyfavorforotherreasons.Scientistscan
tailortheirresearchprogramsand,perhapsmoreoften,slanttheir
conclusionstoencouragepoliticianstobelievethatgreatpayoffs
willfollowfromtheirresearchorthatalurkingcatastrophecan
bedetectedorpreventedonlyiffundingfortheirresearchcontin-
ues. At a more mundanelevel, when drawingconclusions from
researchintoenvironmentalrisks,thescientistintentoncontin-
uing research and the government administrator intent on
expanding the reach of his or her agency are likely to focus on
resultsthatfavortheirinterests.
Theessaysinthisbook,writtenbyscientistswhohavepartic-
ipated in or witnessed firsthand political-scientific interactions,
providedescriptionsofpoliticalmanipulationsofscienceandof
political considerations. The essays describe excessive politici-
zation——the misapplication or outright manipulation of the sci-
entificrecordtoadvancepolicyagendas.Ultimately,actionssuch
as those described have unintended consequences, the brunt of
whicharebornebyeverydaycitizens,notthosewhopoliticizeat
theexpenseofobjectivity.
ScholarsoftheHooverInstitutionandtheGeorgeC.Marshall
Institutecooperatedon thisprojecttodrawattentionto the mis-
givings of politicization for citizens as well as for public policy.
These essays are intended to offer important insights to society
aboutthecostsofmisusingscienceforpoliticalendsthatinvolve
thenation’spolicymakers,interestgroups,media,andscientists.
Betterpolicydecisionsandefficientuseofsociety’sresourceswill
come from an examination of all available science that is
embarked upon in ways that encourage the public interest and
discouragepurelyopportunisticbehavior.
A number of individuals worked on various stages of this
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Foreword ix
projectfromitsconceptiontoitspublication.Thisprojectstarted
withconversationsbetweenDirectorJohnRaisianoftheHoover
InstitutionandJohn Mooreand JeffreySalmonof the GeorgeC.
Marshall Institute. Mark Herlong of the Marshall Institute pro-
vided valuable assistance and Richard Sousa, Hoover’s senior
associatedirector,providedguidanceandassistancethroughvir-
tuallyallphasesoftheprocess.
johnraisian williamo’keefe
Director, President,
HooverInstitution GeorgeC.MarshallInstitute
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Contributors
bruce n. amesisaProfessorintheGraduateSchoolofBiochem-
istryandMolecularBiologyattheUniversityofCalifornia,Berke-
ley, and Senior Scientist at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Re-
searchInstitute.
Dr. Ames was director of the National Institute of Environ-
mentalHealthSciencesCenteratU.C.Berkeleyfortwenty-three
years,andhechairedtheU.C.BerkeleyDepartmentofBiochem-
istryfor six years,1983–1989.Prior to that he was the Microbial
Genetics section chief at the National Institutes of Health in Be-
thesda,Maryland,aNationalScienceFoundationseniorfellowin
thelaboratoriesofFrancesCrickinCambridge,England,andF.
JacobinParis,France,andabiochemistwiththeNationalInsti-
tutesofHealth,wherehebeganhiscareer.
Bruce Ames is the inventor of the Ames Test, which allows
scientiststo test chemicalsto see whether they cause mutations
inbacteriaandperhapscancerinhumans.Hisresearchandtes-
timonyledtobansonsuchsyntheticchemicalsasTris,theflame-
retardantusedinchildren’spajamas.
He is the authorof numerousprofessionalpapersas well as
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xii Contributors
editorialsandopinionpiecesthathaveappearedinmajornews-
papers and magazines and the recipient of nearly thirty profes-
sionalhonorsandawards.AmemberoftheNationalAcademyof
Sciences,AmesearnedhisPh.D.inbiochemistryandgeneticsat
theCaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.
roger bateisthedirectoroftheInternationalPolicyNetworkin
Washington,D.C., and an adjunct fellow at the CompetitiveEn-
terpriseInstitute(CEI),also in Washington.Hewas the founder
of the Environment Unit at the Institute of Economic Affairs in
1993,andheco-foundedtheEuropeanScienceandEnvironment
Forumin1994.HeisaboardmemberoftheSouthAfricannon-
governmentalorganizationAfrica,fightingmalaria.Bate’sPh.D.
isfromCambridgeUniversity.
HehasadvisedtheSouthAfricagovernmentonwatermarkets
and his researchinterestsfocus on internationalenvironmental
regulations.Heisparticularlyinterestedintheeffectsofpressures
fromWesternpoliticiansandGreenactiviststoimposefirst-world
environmentalpoliciesondevelopingcountries.
Dr.BateistheeditorofWhatRisk?(Butterworth-Heinneman,
1997),a collectionof papersthatcriticallyassessthewayriskis
regulated in society, and the author of several scholarly papers
about risk and policies in developing countries. In addition, he
haspublishednumerousarticlesaboutriskandpoliticsinnews-
papersand magazines,includingthe WallStreetJournal,the Fi-
nancialTimes,Accountancy,andLM.HismostrecentbookisLife’s
Adventure:VirtualRiskinaRealWorld(Butterworth-Heinemann,
2000).
bernard l. cohenearnedhisD.Sc.inphysicsin1950.Hewasa
group leader in cyclotron research at the Oak Ridge National
Laboratoryfrom1950through1958.From1958through1994,he
was professor of physics and an adjunct professor in four other
departments at the University of Pittsburgh, and he is now pro-
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Contributors xiii
fessoremeritusattheuniversity.Hehasreceivedseveralawards
fromprofessionalphysicssocieties.
Inadditiontomorethat300paperspublishedinprofessional
journals, Dr. Cohen has written six books: Heart of the Atom
(Doubleday, 1967), translated into French, German, Italian, and
Japanese;ConceptsofNuclearPhysics(McGraw-Hill,1971),trans-
lated into Arabic and republished by Tata McGraw-Hill(India);
Nuclear Science and Society (Doubleday, 1974); Before It’s Too
Late: A Scientist’sCase for NuclearPower (Plenum, 1983), trans-
lated into Turkish; Radon (Consumer Reports Books, 1987, and
Avon Books, 1989); and The Nuclear Energy Option, Alternative
fortheNineties(Plenum,1990),translatedintoJapaneseandSpan-
ish. Dr. Cohen developed an inexpensive, accurate radon mea-
surementdevicethathasbeenusedbythousandsofhomeowners.
lois swirsky goldisdirectoroftheCarcinogenicPotencyPro-
jectandaSeniorScientist,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,and
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has directed the
CarcinogenicPotencyProjectfortwenty-fouryears,andhasbeen
amemberoftheNationalInstituteofEnvironmentalHealthSci-
encesCenterattheUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeleyforfifteen
years.
Dr.GoldhasservedonthePanelofExpertReviewersforthe
National Toxicology Program and on the boards of the Harvard
Center for Risk Analysis and the Annapolis Center; she was a
memberoftheHarvardRiskManagementGroupandisatpresent
a member of the Advisory Committee to the Director, National
CenterforEnvironmentalHealth,CentersforDiseaseControland
Prevention(CDC).Sheisamongthemostfrequentlycitedscien-
tistsinherfieldandwasawardedtheAnnapolisCenterPrizefor
riskcommunication.
Sheistheauthorof100papersonthesubjectsofanalysesof
animalcancer tests and implicationsfor human cancer preven-
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xiv Contributors
tion, interspeciesextrapolation,risk assessment, and regulatory
policy.HerCarcinogenicPotencyDatabase(CPDB),whichpres-
ents analyses of the results of 6,000 chronic, long-term cancer
testson1,400chemicals,waspublishedasaCRChandbookand
isavailableontheWorldwideWebathttp://potency.berkeley.edu.
michael gough,aconsultant,earnedaB.A.atGrinnellCollege,
and a Ph.D. (biology) at Brown University. After a decade-long
academic career at the University of Michigan, Baylor Medical
School,andtheStateUniversityofNewYorkatStonyBrook,and
two yearsat theNationalInstitutesof Health,he joinedthe con-
gressionalOfficeofTechnologyAssessmentin1977.AtOTA,he
beganworkinhealthriskassessmentandenvironmentalhealth
policy and directed and contributed to OTA reports on subjects
ranging from environmental causes of cancer, occupational
health and safety, and Love Canal through corn genetics and
biotechnologytooilshalemining.
In the early 1980’s, Gough directed OTA’s congressionally
mandatedoversightofExecutiveBranchstudiesofcancerinvet-
eransof atombombtestsandof the healthof Vietnamveterans.
HechairedaDepartmentofVeteransAffairsadvisorycommittee
(1987–90)aboutthe possiblehealtheffectsof herbicidesused in
VietnamandtheDepartmentofHealthandHumanServicescom-
mittee(1990–95)thatadvisestheUnitedStatesAirForcestudyof
the health of Air Force personnelwho sprayedAgent Orangein
Vietnam. In September 2000, he accepted reappointment to the
DHHScommittee.In1995,heservedontheEnvironmentalPro-
tection Agency’s Science Advisory Board committee that evalu-
atedEPA’sdioxinreassessment.
During his academic career, he was a Fulbright Lecturer in
Peru and India, and published two dozen papers in molecular
biology, genetics, and microbiology. He is the author of Dioxin,
Agent Orange (Plenum, 1986), coeditor, with T. S. Glickman, of
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Contributors xv
Readings in Risk (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), and
coauthor,withStevenJ.Milloy,ofSilencingScience(Cato,1999).
He is the authorof morethanfortypapersabout environmental
andoccupationalhealthaswellasnumerousnewspaperop-eds.
HehastestifiedaboutthreedozentimesbeforeCongress.Heisa
fellow of the Society for Risk Analysis and was president of the
InternationalSocietyfor RegulatoryToxicologyand Pharmacol-
ogy(2001–2002).
dr. william happerisaProfessorintheDepartmentofPhysics
at Princeton University. On August 5, 1991, with the consent of
theSenate,hewasappointedDirectorofEnergyResearchinthe
DepartmentofEnergybyPresidentGeorgeH.W.Bush.Heover-
saw a basic research budget of some $3 billion, which included
muchofthefederalfundingforhighenergyandnuclearphysics,
materialsscience, magnetic confinement fusion, environmental
science,biology,thehumangenomeproject,andotherareas.He
remainedattheDOEuntilMay31,1993,tohelpduringthetran-
sitiontotheClintonadministration.HewasreappointedProfessor
of Physics at Princeton University on June 1, 1993, and named
EugeneHiggensProfessorofPhysicsandChairoftheUniversity
Research Board in 1995. With an interest in applied as well as
basic science, he has served as a consultant to numerous firms,
charitablefoundations,and governmentagencies.From 1987 to
1990heservedaschairmanoftheSteeringCommitteeofJASON,
a group of scientists and engineers who advise agencies of the
federal government on matters of defense, intelligence, energy
policy, and other technical problems. A Fellow of the American
PhysicalSocietyandtheAmericanAssociationfor theAdvance-
mentofScience,andamemberoftheAmericanAcademyofArts
andSciences,theNationalAcademyofSciences,andtheAmeri-
can Philosophical Society, he has published over 160 scientific
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xvi Contributors
papers.HeisalsoamemberoftheBoardofDirectorsoftheGeorge
C.MarshallInstitute.
joseph p. martinoisaprivateconsultantinthefieldoftechnol-
ogy management. He is a Fellow or Associate Fellow of several
professional organizations, including the Institute of Electrical
andElectronicsEngineers,theAmericanInstituteofAeronautics
& Astronautics, and the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science.Dr. Martinoserved for twenty-twoyears in the
U.S.AirForce,retiringasafullcolonel.Heholdsdegreesinphys-
ics(A.B.,MiamiUniversity),electricalengineering(M.S.,Purdue
University), and mathematics (Ph.D., Ohio State University).
Whileonactiveduty,hewasamemberofthePlansStaffofboth
the Air Force Avionics Laboratory and the Air Force Office of
Scientific Research and was also Chief of the Environmental
AnalysisDivisionoftheAirForceOfficeofResearchandAnalysis.
AfterleavingtheAirForce,Dr.MartinobecameaSeniorResearch
ScientistattheUniversityofDaytonResearchInstitute(1975–93),
where he conducted research for the Army Missile Command,
MartinMarietta,AT&T,IT&T,theHobartCorporation,andother
sponsors. He also created and taught graduate-level courses in
technological forecasting and technology assessment in the
SchoolofEngineering——coursesthatcoveredtechnologicalfore-
casting (its application to R&D planning, business, and govern-
ment)andmethodsofanticipatingthesocial,economic,anden-
vironmentalconsequencesofnewtechnology.Heistheauthorof
TechnologicalForecastingforDecisionMaking(ElsevierScience,
2ded.,1983)andScienceFunding:PoliticsandPorkbarrel(Trans-
actionPub,1992).
patrick j. michaelsistheVirginiaStateClimatologist,Professor
of EnvironmentalSciences at the Universityof Virginia,and the
CEOofanenvironmentalconsultingfirm.HeholdsA.B.andS.M.
degreesinbiologicalsciencesandplantecologyfromtheUniver-
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Contributors xvii
sity of Chicago and a Ph.D. in ecological climatology from the
UniversityofWisconsinatMadison.Heisapastpresidentofthe
American Association of State Climatologists and was program
chairfortheCommitteeonAppliedClimatologyoftheAmerican
MeteorologicalSociety.HeisavisitingscientistwiththeGeorge
C.MarshallInstituteinWashington,D.C.,andaseniorfellowof
theCatoInstitute,alsoinWashington.
MichaelsisacontributingauthorandrevieweroftheUnited
NationsIntergovernmentalPanelonClimateChange,andhisre-
search papers have been published in the major scientific jour-
nals, including Climate Research, Climatic Change, Geophysical
ResearchLetters,JournalofClimate,Nature,andScience.Hiswrit-
ingsforthegeneralpublichaveappearedintheWashingtonPost,
Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Houston
Chronicle, and Journal of Commerce. He has appeared on ABC,
NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS, Fox News Channel, CNN,
MSNBC,CNBC,BBC,andVoiceofAmerica.AccordingtoNature
magazine,Michaelsmaybethemostpopularlecturerinthena-
tiononthesubjectofglobalwarming.
henry i. miller, m.s., m.d., is a research fellow at the Hoover
Institution.Hisresearchfocusesonpublicpolicytowardscience
andtechnology,especiallypharmaceuticaldevelopmentandthe
newbiotechnology.Hisworkoftenemphasizesmodelsforregu-
latoryreform.MillerjoinedtheFoodandDrugAdministrationin
1979,wherehewasthemedicalreviewerforthefirstgenetically
engineereddrugsevaluatedbytheFDAandwasinstrumentalin
the rapid licensing of human insulin and human growth hor-
mone. From 1989 to 1994 he was the founding director of the
FDA’s Office of Biotechnology,and he representedthe FDA and
the U.S. government on various expert and policy panels. After
leaving government service, Miller became the Robert Wesson
Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover
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xviii Contributors
Institution(1994–96).Hismonographsaboutriskassessmentand
management and regulatory policy and reform include Policy
Controversy in Biotechnology: An Insider’s View (R. G. Landes,
1997),BiotechnologyRegulation:TheUnacceptableCostsofExces-
siveRegulation(London:SocialAffairsUnit,1997),andTo Ame-
rica’s Health:A Proposalto Reformthe Food and Drug Adminis-
tration (Hoover Institution Press, 2000). In addition, he has
publishedacademicpapersinprominentmedical,scientific,and
publicaffairsjournals——TheLancet,JournaloftheAmericanMed-
icalAssociation,Science,Nature,andNatureBiotechnology——and
articles for the general public in magazines and newspapers
worldwide,including,theWeeklyStandard,NationalReview,Wall
Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times (London).
He is a regular commentator on the nationally syndicated John
Batchelor–PaulAlexanderProgramonABCradio.
robert nilsson joined the Swedish Environmental Protection
Agency in 1974. While the head of the toxicological unit of the
Products Control Division, he was instrumental in pushing
throughregulationsonreductionsofleadingasoline,aswellas
thefirstgeneralrestrictionsintheworldontheuseofcadmium.
In 1986, the newly created National Chemicals Inspectorate
(KEMI)tookovermostoftheresponsibilityforchemicalscontrol,
andNilssonwasseniortoxicologistatKEMI untilJuly2002.Dr.
Nilsson’sPh.D.wasearnedinbiochemistryandradiationbiology.
HehasworkedforOECDinvariouscapacities,fortheInter-
national Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and for WHO, and
hasadvisedtheMinistriesofEnvironmentofthegovernmentsof
IranandIndia.From1992throughJuly2002,withsupportfrom
U.S. industry and the Commission of the European Union, he
conductedresearchon internationalenvironmentalactivitiesin
hiscapacityasadjunctprofessorofmoleculartoxicologyandrisk
assessmentatStockholmUniversity,andsinceJuly2002he has