Part III of assignment #5 (Final Paper Topic)

Final research project:
A congressional effort for controlling manipulation of scientific results on environmental policy: Focused on the Restore Scientific Integrity to Federal Research and Policymaking Act in 2005.

I’ve selected the bill HR 839 IH (“Restore Scientific Integrity to Federal Research and Policymaking Act”: Introduced in House) as the research topic for my final project. Through the class reading materials, especially several chapters from Vig and Kraft’s book, I found that political parties, the White House, and public agencies have made considerable attempts to manipulate scientific results. The serious problem is that we don’t know exactly how many there have really been regarding these scientific manipulations: Some argue for institutional actions for preventing scientific manipulations while others pay attention to the limitations of the institutional approach. Critics frequently point out that building cultural change toward sound science may be the first thing that must be done to overcome the current unsound science problems.

This bill is a by-product reflecting a series of critiques and problems suggested by people. On February 16, 2005, under the 109th Congress, this bill was introduced to two House committees (the Committee on Government Reform and the Committee on Science), by Rep. Henry A. Waxman. According to the CRS (Congressional Research Service) summary, this bill, called the Restore Scientific Integrity to Federal Research and Policymaking Act, prohibits a federal employee from: (1) tampering with the conduct of federally funded scientific research or analysis; (2) censorship of findings of such research or analysis; or (3) directing the dissemination of scientific information known by the directing employee to be false or misleading. If a federal employee breaks these rules, a penalty for violations of such prohibition is set forth. The bill consists of eight sub-sections (“short title,” “findings and purpose,” “prohibition of political interference with science,” “whistleblower extension for discourses relating to interference with science,” “requirements relating to federal scientific advisory committees,” “peer review,” “state of scientific integrity report,” and “definitions”) and especially emphasizes two things: (1) the roles of the federal government and scientific advisory committees for preventing political interference with science and (2) strengthening protection of whistleblowers regarding disclosures of political interference with science. After this bill was introduced, 80 House members (all Republicans) co-sponsored it. A Senate bill (“S. 1358”) was introduced to follow-up the House bill on June 30, 2005.

With this background information on realizing “sound science,” my final paper deals with a congressional effort for controlling manipulation of scientific results on environmental policy in terms of its social, economic, scientific, political and legal issues, values, and contexts. To do so, my paper will discuss (1) history and background of this bill (why and how this bill was made), (2) politics and socio-economic values, (3) legal issues, and (4) scientific uncertainty. Based on these analyses, I will give (5) policy alternatives and recommendations on sound science, and finally (6) make a conclusion and find desirable future directions for scientific integrity and sound science. Comprehensive literature reviews will be conducted to analyze the socio-economic, political, and legal contexts surrounding this bill. Some articles and books, especially Vaughn and Villabos’s article (2009) in the Review of Policy Research and Chris Moony’s two books The Republican War on Science (2006) and Storm World: Hurricane, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming (2008), will be critically and analytically reviewed for my research. I haven’t yet decided what type of research method(s) will be used for my research, but maybe it will be based on content analysis or discourse analysis through literature, documents, and interview data.


Reference

Vaughn, J. S., & Villalobos, J. D. (2009). The Obama administration’s challenges after the “War on Science”: Reforming staffing practices and protecting scientific integrity in the executive branch, Review of Policy Research, Vol. 26, No. 6, pp. 803-819.
Mooney, C. (2006). The Republican war on science, New York: Basic Books.
Mooney, C. (2008). Storm world: Hurricane, politics, and the battle over global warming, Orlando, FL: Mariner Books.