Scientists Question Bush Panel Appointments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A growing number of scientists say President Bush administration is distorting the scientific advisory process by appointing conservative ideologues to panels that are supposed to be impartial.
They fear the appointments are politically motivated and meant to delay decision-making affecting controversial areas such as the environment, abortion and workplace safety. "Science policy that affects public health should be above party politics, and seen to be so," the Lancet, one of the world's leading medical journals, said in an editorial. "Expert committees need to be filled, by definition, with experts." Some of the controversial appointees have been evangelical Christians, but the Lancet said religion was not the issue. "This is not to decry faith in medicine; the perfect role model is C. Everett Koop, U.S. surgeon-general (from) 1981 to 1989, a devout Christian, and who maintained credibility by remaining impartial, especially in sensitive areas such as women's health and AIDS," it said.

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