John Kerry: “Scientific Censorship Has No Place in the United Sates of America”

“Scientific censorship has no place in the United States of America. Revelations that political appointees at NASA stopped scientific information from being released during the last campaign and that NOAA was forced to retract statements on global warming during last year’s powerful hurricane season raise issues of abuse of power as serious as any I’ve seen in 30 years.

“It’s increasingly clear that every time scientific discovery conflicts with Bush administration politics, this Administration manipulates the process and throws the truth overboard. Whether it’s putting unqualified people in charge, tolerating unbelievable conflicts of interest, disbanding advisory committees, censoring and suppressing reports by the government’s own scientists, or refusing to seek independent scientific advice, science is under assault in Washington.

“The assault on science must end. Future generations’ health and safety is being endangered, and this generation’s free and open debate is being destroyed by this despicable behavior.”