CDC GLOBALThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has canceled a climate change summit that had been planned for February 2017, E&E News reported this week (January 23). The conference would have focused on the well-established connection between climate change and public health, providing attendees with strategies on how to mitigate its effects.
Scientists immediately expressed worry about the decision. “I’m concerned this is an act of self-sabotage on the part of the CDC,” Ed Maibach, director of George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication, told E&E News. “The larger specter is that it will set the tone for self-silencing from the people at the top.”
The CDC confirmed the decision to cancel the summit, the Associated Press reported, but offered no explanation. In a statement sent to those registered for the conference and obtained by the AP, the agency noted that the event may be rescheduled. Some scientists wondered whether the CDC had much choice in the matter. “They ran it up the flagpole and realized that it was so close to the inauguration, the chances ...
