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From: TSS ()
A few days before she was to appear before a Senate committee on the public health implications of global warming, Dr. Julie Gerberding submitted her written testimony for White House review. As director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Gerberding has considerable expertise. Sending her comments to the Office of Management and Budget was considered so perfunctory that her office simultaneously shared the document with public health groups. But perfunctory is not the way OMB, which is staffed and run by true-believing political appointees, saw things. It radically edited Dr. Gerberding's testimony, removing the sections about how climate change could influence the spread of disease, the Associated Press reported this week. The circulated text noted that "scientific evidence supports the view that the Earth's climate is changing," yet "the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. The CDC considers climate change to be a serious public health concern." The White House office excised the paragraph containing those passages before her Senate appearance Tuesday. White House press secretary Dana Perino explained that the draft was edited because officials did not believe it matched scientific conclusions in a report prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Let's set aside for a moment the implausible notion that White House political appointees are better informed about the science in reports by the IPCC — the U.N.-chartered scientific group that shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore — than Dr. Gerberding and her staff are. The fact is that for well over a decade, the IPCC has been sounding the alarm on climate change, and the Bush administration has ignored, downplayed and denied its conclusions. Perino also insisted that the White House hadn't "watered down" Dr. Gerberding's testimony. Past practice suggests otherwise. In 2003, Philip Cooney, who then headed the Council on Environmental Quality in the Bush White House, made more than 300 changes to a report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on global warming. Cooney's changes exaggerated supposed uncertainties about global warming and removed many references to the phenomenon entirely. Prior to his White House service, Cooney had been a lobbyist for the energy industry. After leaving the White House, he became a lobbyist for the energy industry again. On Tuesday, OMB spokesman Sean Kevelighan said the OMB reviews documents and testimony to see whether they "line up well with the national priorities of the administration." Testifying before Congress in March, Cooney said his job was to "align" scientific reports with Bush administration policy. We have learned at great cost over the past seven years that aligning documents with administration policy is not the same as aligning them with reality. Sometimes that has meant "editing" the science in reports and testimony. Sometimes it has involved trying to muzzle world-renowned scientists, such as NASA climate expert James Hansen. And sometimes, as with the war in Iraq, the administration's efforts to mold truth to match its policies have led to tragedy. A Bush official once bragged to a reporter that the administration had the power to create its own reality. That boast has been proved wrong time and again over the last seven years. The ham-handed attempt to stifle Dr. Gerberding is just the latest example. http://www.chron.com/apps/pluck/login.mpl?url=http%3A//www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/5250252.html RIGHT, and there is no mad cows in the USA or Texas. USDA certified beef safe to eat. Because President Bush and the cattle industry says so. ... PRIME MINISTER MARTIN: This is a North American industry and the solutions are science-based. And those science-based solutions are going to be arrived at between the two of us. And that's where the coordination comes in. PRESIDENT BUSH: You know, I personally haven't stopped eating beef. I like to eat beef and will continue eating beef, because I believe the food supply is safe. But we fully understand that we will work together to make sure that we address as many concerns as possible in a scientifically-based way. NCBA has accomplished many of our members’ 11 directives. Reopening the Asian markets remains our final priority. On this front we have: - Called on USDA, U.S. Trade Representative and the Bush Administration to make reopening U.S. beef export markets their top priority, including a personal hearing with President George W. Bush January 11, 2005 o Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says the re-opening of U.S. beef export markets remain his top priority for the USDA. o Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has visited Japan and has urged quick resolution to this matter in meetings with her Japanese counterparts. Linnet F. Deily, U.S. permanent representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) says there is clear and sufficient scientific evidence for Japan to remove restrictions on U.S. beef and beef products in accordance with the WTO sanitary and phytosanitary measures. o U.S. government delegations have traveled to Japan at each critical juncture to negotiate this agreement in person. - Worked with the U.S. Congress to place political pressure on this priority o Members of Congress have sent letters to the White House urging President Bush to "make the resumption of beef trade with Japan and other export markets a top priority in your Administration." o Members of Congress have met with and sent letters to key Japanese officials, including Japanese Ambassador Ryozo Kato calling for Japan to end their ban on U.S. beef products. - Represented U.S. cattlemen on a trip to Tokyo in December 2004 to meet with leading officials of the Japanese government and re-articulate the science that says our beef is safe No other cattlemen’s organization can claim so many actions on cattlemen’s behalf. http://www.beefusa.org/NEWSGettingThingsDoneNCBALeadersAddressCattlemenonPolicyProcessAccomplishments23019.aspx Section 2. Testing Protocols and Quality Assurance Controls In November 2004, USDA announced that its rapid screening test, Bio-Rad Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA), produced an inconclusive BSE test result as part of its enhanced BSE surveillance program. The ELISA rapid screening test performed at a BSE contract laboratory produced three high positive reactive results.40 As required,41 the contract laboratory forwarded the inconclusive sample to the APHIS National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for confirmatory testing. NVSL repeated the ELISA testing and again produced three high positive reactive results.42 In accordance with its established protocol, NVSL ran its confirmatory test, an immunohistochemistry (IHC) test, which was interpreted as negative for BSE. In addition, NVSL performed a histological43 examination of the tissue and did not detect lesions44 consistent with BSE. Faced with conflicting results, NVSL scientists recommended additional testing to resolve the discrepancy but APHIS headquarters officials concluded no further testing was necessary because testing protocols were followed. In our discussions with APHIS officials, they justified their decision not to do additional testing because the IHC is internationally recognized as the "gold standard." Also, they believed that conducting additional tests would undermine confidence in USDA’s established testing protocols. USDA orders silence on mad cow in Texas http://madcowtesting.blogspot.com/2007/10/bse-base-mad-cow-testing-texas-usa-and.html SUPPRESSING, ALTERING OR MANIPULATING EMPERICAL DATA UNDERMINING THEIR A report by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that this administration A report by the House Committee on Government Reform – Minority Staff Changing education performance measures to make “abstinence-only” programs READ THE REPORT! http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/prominent-statement-signatories.html Agencies slow in responding to FOIA requests http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0707&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=2679 BSE BASE MAD COW TESTING TEXAS, USA, AND CANADA, A REVIEW OF SORTS http://madcowusda.blogspot.com/ MADCOW USDA the untold story continued https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6472149427883113751&postID=4829467681293855400 USA NOR-98 SCRAPIE UPDATE AUGUST 31, 2007 RISES TO 5 DOCUMENTED CASES ABSTRACTS SPORADIC CJD AND H BASE MAD COW ALABAMA AND TEXAS SEPTEMBER 2007 Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:31:55 -0500 *** PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE RAMIFICATIONS OF THIS !!! THE PRICE OF USA BASE CASE, (ATYPICAL BSE), AND OR TSE (whatever they are calling it http://lists.ifas.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0708&L=sanet-mg&T=0&P=19779 From: "Terry S. Singeltary Sr." *** 26 from 2007) http://www.cjdsurveillance.com/pdf/case-table.pdf
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