|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
|
Obscure Law Newest Obstacle to Protecting Environment and HealthDate: May 23, 2006Contact: Sarah Anderson (email)Phone: (310) 267-0440 In JAMA commentary, UCLA School of Public Health dean faults misuse of Data Quality Act as latest in string of attacks on science A tiny rider on a massive appropriations bill from late 2000 has become a potent tool for fostering scientific uncertainty as a means to delay or block actions intended to protect the environment and health. A commentary in the May 24 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association exposes how a two-sentence-long law, now known as the Data Quality Act (DQA), provides a new mechanism enabling special interests to delay the release and use of valid scientific research. Dr. Linda Rosenstock, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health and author of the JAMA commentary, also warns of the potential chilling affect of the law on federal agencies who might choose to self-censor valid information rather than deal with withering challenges from special interests. "The full impact of the act is as yet unknown, but it has already resulted in the significant delay of the release and use of valid scientific information," Rosenstock said. "This new tool, to date used primarily by those who have reason to silence or politicize objective scientific research, should be cause for great concern and serious examination." The DQA was added to an appropriations bill late in the Clinton administration by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., without prior hearings or debate. The act directs the federal Office of Management and Budget to develop policies and procedures for "ensuring and maximizing the quality, objectivity, utility and integrity of information." It allows individuals or interest groups to request correction of information released by an agency, in essence providing an administrative process for challenging the quality of the science and information an agency uses. Among petitions under the DQA act:
"What is new in the attacks on science in the last five years is the success in securing and using new tools to magnify or even invent scientific uncertainty, with the consequence of tilting even further the advantage to vested interests," Rosenstock said. "These successes have been aided and amplified by the extraordinary shift within an executive branch playing an active hand in undermining its own science and scientists." In addition to serving as dean, Rosenstock is a professor of environmental health sciences in the UCLA School of Public Health and professor of medicine in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Before coming to UCLA, she served as director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health from 1994 through 2000. The UCLA School of Public Health is dedicated to enhancing the public’s health by conducting innovative research, training future leaders and health professionals, translating research into policy and practice, and serving local, national and international communities. For more information, see http://www.ph.ucla.edu/. -UCLA- SA238 << Back to Press Releases |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||
| UCLA Campus :: Campus Directory | Terms of Use / Privacy Policy :: © 2007 UC Regents | |