Stand up for science

[T]he misuse of science by federal agencies and individual researchers has fueled the public’s growing distrust of science. So says U.S. President Donald Trump in a new executive order designed to promote “gold standard science” through transparency, replication, and taking swift action to correct errors and punish misconduct.

  Science

That last bit is the problem. Correct errors and punish misconduct.

[T]he new order says nothing about preventing political interference before disseminating scientific findings—which scientists say happened many times during Trump’s first term.

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Instead, the order on Restoring Gold Standard Science gives a political appointee the power to decide when those findings need to be “corrected” and to take disciplinary action against those seen as the perpetrators of misinformation.

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The directive asserts that “over the last 5 years, confidence that scientists act in the best interests of the public has fallen significantly.” It cites “a reproducibility crisis” across many disciplines, and laments “the falsification of data by leading researchers [that] has led to high-profile retractions of federally funded research.”

The order cites examples from former President Joe Biden’s administration to make its point that the government has contributed to “this loss of trust.” In one case, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidance on school closures that it says, “discouraged in-person learning … resulting in substantial negative effects on educational outcomes.” The order also cites a federal court telling the National Marine Fisheries Service that it erred in using a “worst-case scenario” to estimate the number of right whales, an endangered species, to support a ban on lobster fishing.

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Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, worries the new order will accelerate previous efforts by Republicans in Congress and Trump “to discount the underlying data from studies that present results at odds with the administration’s political agenda.”

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Stand Up for Science, a nonprofit that has organized demonstrations against Trump science policies, has written an open letter protesting the policy that since Friday has attracted more than 3800 signatures. The order represents “an escalation of the ongoing assault on science,” the letter states.

The great American brain drain is underway.