Fighting the Republican War on Science: A Question of Balance

Written byJeff Perkel

| 2 min read

Chris Mooney's "The Republican War on Science" showed up on my desk recently. The book traces the rise of the Republican Party's split with science, from its roots in the supersonic transport debate in the Nixon administration, to George W. Bush's assault on science today, covering science issues from Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative to "intelligent design," global warming to stem cells.From what I read Mooney seems to come across as a bit of a zealot. In the first chapter, for instance, he writes, "In fact, in politicized fights involving science, it is rare to find liberals entirely innocent of abuses. But they are almost never as guilty as the Right." Such sweeping statements diminish the power of his otherwise well-researched arguments -- the book has fully 60 pages of notes -- not to mention its ability to swing moderates to Mooney's point of view. (Mea culpa, I wasn't able to finish the book -- then again, I was already convinced, already part of the choir to which he's preaching.)Nevertheless, I think the book speaks powerfully to the fears of the American Left, and to those of the larger scientific community in general. Mooney argues that we live in a time when science is used less to inform policy, than as a political football. Reasonable, informed people can disagree over the meaning and relative importance of scientific knowledge, as well as what to do with that knowledge, he says. But the Right, he claims, has spent decades honing a machinery to invent controversy where none exists, thereby using the tenets of science to undermine it.The classic case today is intelligent design. But there are other, equally insidious examples, too. Why, for instance, has the FDA not yet approved Plan B, despite its own advisory panel?s overwhelming recommendation? For that matter, why did the Bush administration insist for so long on a link between breast cancer and abortion, and why does it continue to downplay condom effectiveness relative to abstinence in its efforts to stem the spread of AIDS?In his epilogue, Mooney outlines steps we can take to depoliticize science -- reinstatement of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, protecting the independence of scientific advisory committees, and rolling back legislation (like the "Data Quality Act") designed to water down the ability of scientific knowledge to inform decision-making processes.

Fighting the Republican War on Science: A Question of Balance

The Scientist ARCHIVES

Become a Member of

Meet the Author

Jeff Perkel

Related Research Resources

Nergal Networks: Where Friendship Meets Infection

Research Resources

Podcasts

Webinars

Videos

Infographics

eBooks

Maximizing Lentivirus Recovery

Unraveling Complex Biology with Five-Dimensional Multiomics

Resurrecting Plant Defense Mechanisms to Avoid Crop Pathogens

Seeing and Sorting with Confidence

Products

Product News

Waters Enhances Alliance iS HPLC System Software, Setting a New Standard for End-to-End Traceability and Data Integrity

Agilent Unveils the Next Generation in LC-Mass Detection: The InfinityLab Pro iQ Series

Agilent Announces the Enhanced 8850 Gas Chromatograph

Pioneering Cancer Plasticity Atlas will help Predict Response to Cancer Therapies