Policy trumps science in the Bush administration.

Not long ago, a group of more than 60 top United States scientists, including more than 20 past Nobel laureates and past scientific advisors to Republican administrations, accused the Bush administration of manipulating and censoring science for political purposes.1 Included among those involved were David Baltimore, Paul Ehrlich, Leon Lederman, E.O. Wilson and Harold Varmus. The charges are quite serious and indicate that in nearly every case political considerations out-trump scientific ones and that little attention is given to the advice provided by some of the nation’s most prominent and senior scientists. This has trickled down even to the chiropractic profession, for the gentle reader must stay mindful that there are chiropractors appointed to several national advisory and review panels, and they do not always represent mainstream chiropractic, leading to the question as to what considerations were taken into account when such appointments were made. I well know this, as for several years I had an assignment to the National Advisory Panel for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.