THE National Academies is a funny organisation. Congress created it in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln was president, and it now consists of four organisations: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Their job is to advise the government on scientific and technological matters.
But despite three having 鈥淣ational鈥� in their names, the academies receive no direct support from the federal government. Instead, in order to perform their advisory role, they get contracts from various federal agencies to conduct studies on topics of interest to that agency. The academies pride themselves on their independence and their willingness to speak the truth, the scientific truth, no matter what. But they are also now dealing with a White House and Congress that show little interest in receiving, let alone paying for, advice they don鈥檛 want to hear. And that has a way of tempering opinions.
So it may come as a surprise to learn that the academies have decided not to put their collective heads in the sand when it comes to one particularly sensitive political issue, but to wave the flag for scientific integrity.
Advertisement
This month, the National Academies鈥� new Marian Koshland Science Museum opens in Washington DC. A prominent exhibit depicts what will happen to the global environment if nothing is done to curb the release of greenhouse gases. It paints a dire picture, a perspective reflecting prevailing scientific consensus, but running more than contrary to the current administration鈥檚 views on the topic. Perhaps the academies hope that everyone in the White House is too busy running for re-election to notice a new museum exhibit.
THIS year marks the 30th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. Like many of the country鈥檚 environmental laws, it was born during a Republican administration. That鈥檚 an irony noted if not greatly appreciated by many environmentalists nowadays, who view the Bush White House and its conservative backers as the Mongol horde riding in to pave paradise.
Over the years, the act has brought numerous species back from the brink of extinction, such as the California condor and the whooping crane. Many conservatives view it with disdain, claiming that it undercuts one of the highest of American principles: private property and the right to do with it what one wants.
So there are changes afoot. The Bush government is now trying to alter the enforcement of the Endangered Species Act to allow hunters to bring a few endangered species back to the US 鈥� dead. It wants to change regulations to permit hunters to bag a few threatened animals from abroad and mount them. Or turn them into shoes and expensive handbags. Environmental groups say they are planning to fight 鈥� and hoping that the White House will decide that images of a pukka sahib Republican in pith helmet astride a dead rhino may not be the best thing in an election year.
