Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era' | Science

<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("http://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy","20120226043213","http://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1330230733"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <script type="text/javascript"> document.domain = "guardian.co.uk"; </script> <meta charset="utf-8"/>  <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ OAS_url = 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://oas.guardian.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/'; OAS_sitepage = "www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy/oas.html"; OAS_listpos = 'Top,Middle2,Right1,x31'; OAS_query = 'k=science&k=science-scepticism&k=scienceofclimatechange&k=aaas&k=science-policy&k=genetics&cf=us+elections&pid=&ct=article&pt=article&'; OAS_target = '_blank'; OAS_rn = '001234567890'; OAS_rns = '1234567890'; OAS_rn = new String (Math.random()); OAS_rns = OAS_rn.substring (2, 11); //]]> </script> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"/> <link rel="canonical" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"/> <meta name="description" content="Researchers attending one of the world's major academic conferences 'are scared to death of the anti-science lobby'"/> <link rel="image_src" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/2/18/1329593690636/Polar-Bear-on-ice-003.jpg"/> <meta name="DC.date.issued" content="2012-02-19"> <meta property="og:title" content="Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'"/> <meta property="og:type" content="article"/> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2012-02-19T00:06:54Z"/> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2012-02-21T08:15:03Z"/> <meta property="article:author" content="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/robinmckie"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="AAAS"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Climate change"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Genetics"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Science and scepticism"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Science policy"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Science"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="US domestic policy"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="US elections 2012"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Oil"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Business"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Oil"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Climate change"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="GM"/> <meta property="article:tag" content="Environment"/> <meta property="article:section" content="Science"/> <meta property="og:url" content="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"/> <meta property="og:image" content="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/https://static-secure.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/2/18/1329593691847/Polar-Bear-on-ice-004.jpg"/> <meta property="og:site_name" content="the Guardian"/> <meta property="og:description" content="Researchers attending one of the world's major academic conferences 'are scared to death of the anti-science lobby'"/> <meta property="fb:app_id" content="180444840287"/> <meta name="keywords" content="AAAS,Climate change,Genetics,Science and scepticism,Science policy,Science,US domestic policy,US elections 2012,Oil,Business,Oil,Climate change,GM,Environment,Science"/> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="/web/20120226043213im_/http://www.guardian.co.uk/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"/> <link rel="shorturl" href="http://gu.com/p/35hzg"/> <title> Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era' | Science | The Observer </title> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/science/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Science RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/aaas/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="AAAS RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Climate change RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/genetics/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Genetics RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-scepticism/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Science and scepticism RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-policy/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Science policy RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/world/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="World news RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usdomesticpolicy/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="US domestic policy RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-elections-2012/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="US elections 2012 RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Business RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Oil RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Environment RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Oil RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/environment/climate-change/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="Climate change RSS feed"/> <link href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gm/rss" rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="GM RSS feed"/> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (!commonStaticRoot) { var commonStaticRoot = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/"; } if (!sectionStaticRoot) { var sectionStaticRoot = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/science/"; } if (!staticHost) { var staticHost="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/"; } if (!sitePrefixUrl) { var sitePrefixUrl = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk"; } //]]> </script> <link rel="alternate stylesheet" title="No layout" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/styles/no-layout.css" media="screen" class="contrast" id="no-layout-sheet"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/styles/article-top.css" media="screen"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/styles/print.css" media="print" class="contrast"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/zones/news/styles/zone-accent.css" media="screen" class="contrast"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/styles/base-typography.css" media="screen"/>     <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://combo.guim.co.uk/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/badge+content-actions+default-ad-placeholders+header-local-info+page-toolbox+related-keywords+series-component+sprites+top-navigation.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://combo.guim.co.uk/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/m-1023~/static/gas-and-electricity/deal_finder+m-661~static/1780/comment-common+m-661~static/1780/comment-counts+m-661~static/1780/comment-list+m-661~static/1780/post-comment+m-661~static/1780/report-abuse+m-87~styles/twitter-app+m-963~related-information/static/related-information-7.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213cs_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/styles/article-page-typography.css" media="screen"/> <script type="text/javascript"> var _sf_startpt=(new Date()).getTime(); </script> <script src="//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.6.4/jquery.min.js"></script> <script>window.jQuery || document.write('<script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/libs/jquery/1.6.4/jquery.min.js">\x3C/script>')</script> <script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/libs/jquery/cookie/1.0.0/jquery.cookie.js"></script> <script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/libs/jquery/writeCapture/1.0.5/jquery.writeCapture.min.js"></script> <script>var jQ = jQuery.noConflict();</script> <script src="//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://cdn.optimizely.com/js/10822091.js"></script> <script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/gu-core.js"></script> <script> var thirdPartyReferralCookieService = new guardian.r2.ThirdPartyReferralCookieService(); thirdPartyReferralCookieService.setThirdPartyReferralCookie(); var urlStack = new UrlStack(".guardian.co.uk"); var communitiesSite = false; //<![CDATA[ function init() { urlStack.clearUrlStack(); var signOutLink = document.getElementById("sign-out"); if (signOutLink) { signOutLink.onclick = signOut; } // Purely styling //jQ('.js-show').removeClass('js-show'); } guardian.r2.resourceRoot = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://resource.guim.co.uk/"; var pageUrl = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"; var pageSignature = "eddffdb9be7eb6a6e439254872cfe19bbf44a01b03f7f3b7d7fab59d2ebad534"; jQ(document).ready(init); var SIGN_IN_URL = 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/tools/signin'; var RESOURCE_ROOT = 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://resource.guim.co.uk/'; var PROFILE_LINK_VIEW = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/"; </script> <script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/libs/requirejs/1.0.2/requirejs.js" data-main="http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/main.js" data-modules="gu/author-twitter-handles, init" data-callback="" id="require-js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ function insertStyleSheet(href) { var styleObject = document.createElement('link'); styleObject.setAttribute('href', commonStaticRoot + href); styleObject.setAttribute('type', 'text/css'); styleObject.setAttribute('media', 'screen'); styleObject.setAttribute('rel', 'stylesheet'); var head = document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]; head.appendChild(styleObject); } insertStyleSheet('styles/js-on.css'); insertPluckStylesheet = true; //]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://combo.guim.co.uk/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/convertJSONtoAd+common/scripts/formChecker+common/scripts/glossaryPopupView+common/scripts/guardian.r2.EmailToAFriend+common/scripts/guardian.r2.OmnitureTracking+common/scripts/guardian.r2.ShareThis+common/scripts/sendtoafriend+common/scripts/shareCounts+common/scripts/signinTopNav+common/scripts/tweet_button.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://combo.guim.co.uk/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/m-1023~/static/gas-and-electricity/deal_finder+m-661~static/1780/comment-formatting+m-661~static/1780/comment-replyto+m-661~static/1780/comment-setup+m-661~static/1780/comment-sorting+m-661~static/1780/fill-comment-counts+m-661~static/1780/redirect-pluck-permalink.js"></script> <script src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/external-scripts/mvt/cm_lib_compressed.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> ensurePackage('guardian.r2.omniture'); guardian.r2.omniture.isAvailable = function(){ return true; } </script> </head> <body class=" article "> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header"> <div id="sub-header"> <div class="top-navigation twelve-col top-navigation-js"> <div class="user-functions"> <div id="video-settings"> <div class="cookied"> <p class="on"><a class="autoplay-off" href="#skiplinks">Turn autoplay off</a></p> <p class="off"><a class="autoplay-on" href="#skiplinks">Turn autoplay on</a></p> </div> <div class="not-cookied"> <p>Please activate cookies in order to turn autoplay off</p> </div> </div> <div id="skiplinks"> <ul> <li><a href="#box" accesskey="s">Jump to content [s]</a></li> <li><a href="#start-of-comments" accesskey="c">Jump to comments [c]</a></li> <li><a href="#global-nav" accesskey="0">Jump to site navigation [0]</a></li> <li><a href="#searchbeta" accesskey="4">Jump to search [4]</a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://guardian.co.uk/Users/help/article/0,,933909,00.html" accesskey="8">Terms and conditions [8]</a></li> </ul> </div> <div id="edition-selector"> <div id="drop-down-edition" class="drop-down" tabindex="20"> <h2>Edition: <span class="current-edition">US</span></h2> <ul class="initially-off"> <li><a id="editionSwitchLink" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardiannews.com/uk-home?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT9474">UK</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="user-details"> <span><a class="same-page-login-required" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/identity/signin?returnUrl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&sig=eddffdb9be7eb6a6e439254872cfe19bbf44a01b03f7f3b7d7fab59d2ebad534">Sign in</a></span> <span><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://m.guardian.co.uk/" class="register-required">Mobile</a></span> </div> <div id="drop-down-1" class="drop-down" tabindex="21"> <h2> About us </h2> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/info" class="link-text">About us</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/contact-us" class="link-text">Contact us</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/gnm-press-office" class="link-text">Press office</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/terms-of-service" class="link-text">Terms of service</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/privacy-policy" class="link-text">Privacy policy</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscription-services" class="link-text">Subscribe</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="other-functions"> <div id="drop-down-3" class="drop-down mirror" tabindex="23"> <h2> Subscribe </h2> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/iphone/guardian" class="link-text">Guardian iPhone</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/ipad/guardian-ipad-edition" class="link-text">iPad edition</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.amazon.com/The-Guardian-and-the-Observer/dp/B004MME3M8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=A3TVV12T0I6NSM&s=digital-text&qid=1310129212&sr=1-2" class="link-text">Kindle</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekly/subscribe" class="link-text">Guardian Weekly</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://guardian.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx" class="link-text">Digital edition</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/subscription-services" class="link-text">All our services</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="Top" class=" hide-on-popup"> <div id="ad-placeholder-Top"></div> </div> </div> <div id="guardian-logo"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardiannews.com/"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/logos/the-guardian/news.gif" width="115" height="22" alt="The Guardian home"/></a> </div> <div id="observer-logo"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.observer.co.uk/"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/zones/news/images/logo_observer.gif" height="22" width="113" alt="The Observer home"/></a> </div> <form id="searchbeta" method="get" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/search" onsubmit="return searchWeb('http://www.guardian.co.uk/websearch', 'http://www.guardian.co.uk/search', 'http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/search/comments/');"> <input type="text" name="q" placeholder="Your search terms..."/> <select name="section" id="gu-site-search" style="z-index: 0 !important;"> <option value="" id="search-guardian">The Guardian</option> <option value="science" id="search-section" selected="selected">Science</option> <option value="search-contributions" id="search-contributions">User comments</option> <option value="web" id="search-web">Web</option> </select> <input type="submit" value="Search"/> </form> <div id="zones-nav"> <div id="global-nav"> <ul> <li class="first news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardiannews.com/">News</a> </li> <li class="news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">US</a> </li> <li class="news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world">World</a> </li> <li class="sport"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport">Sports</a> </li> <li class="comment"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/america">Comment</a> </li> <li class="culture"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture">Culture</a> </li> <li class="business"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business">Business</a> </li> <li class="environment"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment">Environment</a> </li> <li class="news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science">Science</a> </li> <li class="travel"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel">Travel</a> </li> <li class="news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology">Tech</a> </li> <li class="news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media">Media</a> </li> <li class="life-and-style"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle">Life & style</a> </li> <li class="global"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/mobile/apps">Apps</a> </li> <li class="last news"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/data">Data</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="trackable-component crumb-wrapper" data-component="comp: r2: Crumb Navigation"> <ul class="crumb-nav"> <li id="crumb1"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardiannews.com/">News</a> </li> <li id="crumb2"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science">Science</a> </li> <li id="crumb3"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/aaas">AAAS</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="box"> <div id="article-header"> <div id="main-article-info"> <h1>Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'</h1> <p id="stand-first" class="stand-first-alone">Researchers attending one of the world's major academic conferences 'are scared to death of the anti-science lobby'</p> </div> <ul id="content-actions" class="share-links"> <li class="share-links"> <ul> <li class="full-line tweet tweet_button"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/share" class="twitter-share-button" data-url="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://gu.com/p/35hzg/tw" data-via="guardian" data-counturl="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy" data-related="guardianscience" data-text="Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'">Tweet this</a> </li> <li class="third-party-tool full-line facebook"> <span class="facebook-share"> <a class="facebook-share-btn" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.facebook.com/dialog/feed?app_id=180444840287&link=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&display=popup&redirect_uri=http://static-serve.appspot.com/static/facebook-share/callback.html&show_error=false" data-href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy" data-link-name="Facebook Share"> <span class="facebook-share-icon"></span> <span class="facebook-share-label">Share</span> <span class="corner-tl"></span> <span class="corner-tr"></span> <span class="corner-bl"></span> <span class="corner-br"></span> </a> </span> </li> <li class="third-party-tool last-line reddit"> <span class="reddit_button"> <a target="http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&amp;title=" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=" data-link-name="Reddit image" class="share-this-tracking"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_reddit.gif"/> </a> <a target="http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&amp;title=" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=" data-link-name="Reddit text" class="share-this-tracking">reddit this</a> </span> </li> </ul> </li> <li class="b3"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy#start-of-comments" class="content-comment-count" short-url="-p-35hzg">Comments (<span class="comment-count-val">…</span>)</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div id="content"> <ul class="article-attributes b4"> <li class="byline"> <div class="contributer-full"> <a class="contributor" rel="author" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/robinmckie"> Robin McKie</a>, science editor </div> </li> <li class="publication"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/">The Observer</a>, <time datetime="2012-02-18" pubdate>Saturday 18 February 2012</time> </li> <li class="history js-show"> <a class="rollover history-link" href="#history-link-box">Article history</a> <div class="toolbox-popup" id="history-link-box" style="width: 460px"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>About this article</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#history-link-box">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="section"> <h1>Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'</h1> This article appeared on p20 of the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/feb/19/news">Main section</a> section of <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver">the Observer</a> on <time datetime="2012-02-18" pubdate><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/feb/19">Saturday 18 February 2012</a></time>. It was published on <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/">guardian.co.uk</a> at <time datetime="2012-02-18T19:00EST" pubdate>19.06 EST on Saturday 18 February 2012</time>. It was last modified at <time datetime="2012-02-21T03:15EST">03.15 EST on Tuesday 21 February 2012</time>. </div> </div> </div> </li> </ul> <div id="article-wrapper"> <div id="main-content-picture"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/2/18/1329593695832/Polar-Bear-on-ice-007.jpg" width="460" height="276" alt="Polar Bear on ice"/> <div class="caption">The vast majority of scientists on both sides of the Atlantic say rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere threaten to increase temperatures to dangerous levels. Photograph: Paul Souders/Corbis</div> </div> <div id="article-body-blocks"> <p>Most scientists, on achieving high office, keep their public remarks to the bland and reassuring. Last week Nina Fedoroff, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/aaas" title="More from guardian.co.uk on AAAS">AAAS</a>), broke ranks in a spectacular manner.</p><p>She confessed that she was now "scared to death" by the anti-science movement that was spreading, uncontrolled, across the US and the rest of the western world.</p><p>"We are sliding back into a dark era," she said. "And there seems little we can do about it. I am profoundly depressed at just how difficult it has become merely to get a realistic conversation started on issues such as <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Climate change">climate change</a> or genetically modified organisms."</p><p>The remarks of Fedoroff, one of the world's most distinguished agricultural scientists, are all the more remarkable given their setting.</p><p>She made them at the AAAS annual meeting, an event at which scientists normally revel in their latest accomplishments: new insights into marine biology or first results from a recently launched satellite, for example.</p><p>But this year there has been a palpable chill to proceedings. Yes, good work was reported to the 8,000 who attended the various symposia and lectures at the meeting in Vancouver.</p><p>However, these pronouncements were set against a background of an entire intellectual discipline that realises that it, and its practitioners, are now under sustained attack.</p><p>As Fedoroff pointed out, university and government researchers are hounded for arguing that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are changing the climate. Their emails are hacked while Facebook campaigns call for their dismissal from their posts, calls that are often backed by rightwing politicians. At the last Republican party debate in Florida, Rick Santorum insisted he should be the presidential nominee simply because he had cottoned on earlier than his rivals Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney to the "hoax" of global warming.</p><p>"Those of us who grew up in the sixties, when we put men on the Moon, now have to watch as every Republican candidate for this year's presidential election denies the science behind climate change and evolution. That is a staggering state of affairs and it is very worrying," said Professor Naomi Oreskes, of the University of California, San Diego.</p><p>Oreskes is co-author, with Erik Conway, of <em>Merchants of Doubt</em>, an investigation into the links between corporate business interests and campaigns in the US aimed at blocking the introduction of environmental and medical measures such as bans on smoking and the use of DDT, laws to limit acid rain, legislation to end the depletion of ozone in the atmosphere and attempts to curb carbon dioxide emissions.</p><p>In each case, legislation was delayed by years, sometimes decades, thanks to the activities of a variety of foundations – such as the Heartland Institute – which are backed by energy companies such as Exxon and billionaires like Charles Koch.</p><p>These institutions, acting as covers for major energy corporations, are responsible for the onslaught that has deeply lowered the reputation of science in many people's minds in America. This has come in the form of personal attacks on the reputations of scientists and television adverts that undermine environment laws. The Environmental Protection Agency, which is responsible for blocking mining and drilling proposals that might harm threatened species or habitats, has become a favourite target.</p><p>"Our present crisis over the rise of anti-science has been coming for a long time and we should have seen it coming," adds Oreskes.</p><p>This point was backed by Francesca Grifo of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), although she added that one specific event had brought matters to a head this year: the decision by the United States supreme court to overrule the law that allowed the federal government to place limits on independent spending for political purposes by business corporations.</p><p>"That has opened the gates for corporations – often those associated with coal and <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Oil">oil</a> industries – to flood the market with adverts that support rightwing politicians and which attack government bodies that impose environmental regulations that these companies don't like," she said. "The science that supports these regulations is attacked as well. That has made a terrible difference over the past year and it is now bringing matters to a head."</p><p>Her remarks are backed by a UCS report, Heads They Win, Tails We Lose: How Corporations Corrupt Science at the Public's Expense, which was published at the Vancouver meeting on Friday. It chronicles the methods used by corporate businesses to attack their targets: harassing individual scientists, ghost-writing scientific articles to raise doubts about government research, and undermining the use of science to form government policy.</p><p>"People may believe that political interference in science went extinct when George W. Bush left office, but the reality is that the pressure to politicise science is still with us," added Grifo.</p><p>Most scientists acknowledge that President Barack Obama is sympathetic to science. "The trouble is that he still hasn't been able to do anything to help. He is continually blocked by Congress, and that only adds to our worries and sense of desperation," said Fedoroff. "If the current president is for us, but still cannot do anything to help us, then what will happen if a Republican gets into the White House this year?"</p><p>In general, the worst excesses of the anti-science lobbies are confined to the US. However, there are signs that their influence is spreading, and that raises worrying issues, said Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, in London.</p><p>"In coming years, we will have to ask ourselves if public policies should be based on the advice of experts who have carried out robust and rigorous analysis of the evidence, or if they should be guided by lobbyists who appear driven by narrow ideological dogma.</p><p>"The answer may seem obvious, but we should be aware of the efforts being made in the UK to promote ideology over rational evidence-based decision-making, particularly when it comes to climate issues," said Ward.</p><p>Just how this rise of anti-science antagonism pans out in the end remains unclear.</p><p>"It has taken the scientific community a long time to realise what it is up against," says Oreskes. "In the past, it thought the problem was just a matter of education. All its practitioners had to do was make an effort to reach out and talk to teachers, the public and business leaders. Then these people would see the issues and understand the need for action.</p><p>"But now they are beginning to realise what they are really up against: massive organised attempts to undermine scientific data by people for whom that data represents a threat to their status quo. Given the power of these people, scientists will have their work cut out dealing with them."</p> </div> </div> </div> <div id="related"> <ul id="article-toolbox-side" class="b4 left"> <li class="printable"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy/print" rel="nofollow" id="printlink" class="printable rollover" title="Link to a printer-friendly version"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_print.gif" alt="Print this" class="trail-icon"/><span>Printable version</span></a></li> <li><a class="rollover send-email" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1705795" title="Opens an email form"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_email-friend.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Send to a friend</span></a></li> <li><a class="rollover send-share" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/share/1705795" title="Opens a share this page in a new window"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_share.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Share</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add?r2PageId=1705795" id="clippable" title="Sends this page to your clippings file" class="rollover anchor-based-login-required package-required-YCLD"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_clip.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Clip</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/contactus/1705795" class="rollover contact-link" title="Displays contact data for guardian.co.uk"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_email-us.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Contact us</span></a></li> <li class="resize trackable-component" data-component="comp: r2: Resize tool"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_font.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/> <a href="/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibility" id="larger-sidebar" title="Increase text size" data-link-name="Text resize larger">larger</a> | <a href="/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibility" id="smaller-sidebar" title="Decrease text size" data-link-name="Text resize smaller">smaller</a> </li> </ul> <div class="toolbox-popup trackable-component" id="send-email-box" data-component="Send email box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Email</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#send-email">Close</a></span> </div> <div> <form method="post" name="emailthis" id="emailthis" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1705795"> <fieldset> <div><label for="to">Recipient's email address</label></div> <input type="text" id="to" name="to" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div><label for="firstName">Your first name</label></div> <input type="text" name="firstName" id="firstName" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div><label for="surname">Your surname</label></div> <input type="text" id="surname" name="surname" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div> <label for="note">Add a note (optional)</label> <br/><span id="warning-side"></span> </div> <textarea name="note" cols="25" rows="5" onkeyup="formCheckerSide(this,250)"></textarea> </fieldset> <div class="inputrow"> <input type="submit" class="share-this-tracking" data-link-name="Email" value="Send"/> </div> <p class="ip_logged">Your IP address will be logged</p> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toolbox-popup trackable-component" id="send-share-box" data-component="Share box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Share</h3> <span class="js-show"><a class="close-toolbox" href="#send-share-box">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="shortlink"> Short link for this page: <a rel="shortlink nofollow" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://gu.com/p/35hzg">http://gu.com/p/35hzg</a> </div> <ul class="share-this-tracking"> <li> <a data-link-name="Stumbleupon" name="lid={share}{stumbleupon}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 stumbleupon"></span>StumbleUpon </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Reddit" name="lid={share}{reddit}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 reddit"></span>reddit </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Tumblr" name="lid={share}{Tumblr}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.tumblr.com/share?v=3&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&t=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27" title="Share on Tumblr"> <span class="spr-16 tumblr"></span>Tumblr </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Digg" name="lid={share}{Digg}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 digg"></span>Digg </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="LinkedIn" name="lid={share}{LinkedIn}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27&source=The%20Guardian"> <span class="spr-16 linkedin"></span>LinkedIn </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Google Bookmarks" name="lid={share}{Google Bookmarks}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&bkmk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 google-bookmarks"></span>Google Bookmarks </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="del.icio.us" name="lid={share}{del.icio.us}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://del.icio.us/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 delicious"></span>del.icio.us </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Livejournal" name="lid={share}{livejournal}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml?subject=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"> <span class="spr-16 livejournal"></span>livejournal </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Facebook" name="lid={share}{Facebook}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"> <span class="spr-16 facebook"></span>Facebook </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Twitter" name="lid={share}{Twitter}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/home?status=http%3A%2F%2Fgu.com%2Fp%2F35hzg%2Ftw"> <span class="spr-16 twitter"></span>Twitter </a> </li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> <div class="toolbox-popup" id="contact-link-box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Contact us</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#contact">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="col first"> <ul> <li> Contact the Science editor<br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:science@guardian.co.uk">science@guardian.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Report errors or inaccuracies: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:reader@observer.co.uk">reader@observer.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Letters for publication should be sent to: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:letters@observer.co.uk">letters@observer.co.uk</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="col"> <ul> <li> If you need help using the site: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:userhelp@guardian.co.uk">userhelp@guardian.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: <br/><span>+44 (0)20 3353 2000</span> </li> <li> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://adinfo-guardian.co.uk/">Advertising guide</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/syndication/">License/buy our content</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="related-keywords trackable-component" data-component="comp: related-keywords"> <h4 class="b4 t6"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science">Science</a></h4> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/aaas" rel="tag">AAAS</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange" rel="tag">Climate change</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/genetics" rel="tag">Genetics</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-scepticism" rel="tag">Science and scepticism</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-policy" rel="tag">Science policy</a> </li> </ul> <h4 class="b3 t6"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world">World news</a></h4> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usdomesticpolicy" rel="tag">US domestic policy</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-elections-2012" rel="tag">US elections 2012</a> </li> </ul> <h4 class="b3 t6"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business">Business</a></h4> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil" rel="tag">Oil</a> </li> </ul> <h4 class="b3 t6"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment">Environment</a></h4> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil" rel="tag">Oil</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change" rel="tag">Climate change</a> · </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gm" rel="tag">GM</a> </li> </ul> <p class="t6 b4"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/tone/news">More news </a></p> </div> <div id="manual-trailblock" class="manual-trailblock package trackable-component" data-component="r2: manual-trailblock package"> <ul> <li class="first"> <h3>More from the American Association for the Advancement of Science</h3> </li> <li class="picture"> <p class="thumbnail"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/21/weight-loss-guidelines-wrong-vancouver" data-link-name="anchor image" class="link-image "> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Admin/BkFill/Default_image_group/2012/2/20/1329768270972/GERMANY-WEATHER-FEATURE-003.jpg" width="140" height="84" alt="GERMANY-WEATHER-FEATURE"/> </a> </p> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/21/weight-loss-guidelines-wrong-vancouver" class="link-text"> Why the weight is so hard to shift: guidelines have been wrong all along </a> </p> <p> <p>Scientists say unrealistic weight loss targets issued because of a failure to allow for changes to metabolism as weight drops off</p> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/21/whales-dolphins-legal-rights" class="link-text"> Whales and dolphins 'should have legal rights' </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/20/vocabulary-tests-identify-late-speakers" class="link-text"> Vocabulary tests on two-year-olds can identify those who will be late talkers </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/20/open-hospital-windows-stem-infections" class="link-text"> Open hospital windows to stem spread of infections, says microbiologist </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/18/fasting-protect-brain-diseases-scientists" class="link-text"> Fasting can help protect against brain diseases, scientists say </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/18/mobile-nature-reserves-marine-species" class="link-text"> 'Mobile nature reserves' could save marine species from extinction </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/17/vaccine-norovirus-winter-vomiting-bug" class="link-text"> Vaccine developed to protect against norovirus or 'winter vomiting bug' </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/17/videogames-eyesight-rare-eye-disorder" class="link-text"> Video games improve sight in adults born with a rare eye disorder </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/16/microchip-implant-drug-doses-osteoporosis" class="link-text"> Microchip implant delivers timed drug doses to patients with osteoporosis </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/16/stonehenge-based-magical-auditory-illusion" class="link-text"> Stonehenge was based on a 'magical' auditory illusion, says scientist </a> </p> </li> <li> <p> <a data-cpt="cpt-239" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/16/shale-gas-regulations-scientists-us" class="link-text"> Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials </a> </p> </li> </ul> </div> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper two-col" data-component="microapp: related-information : Related information vertical : related-information-vertical"> <div class="related-content"> <div class="bd"> <div class="two-col edge"> <p class="b4 t6">Related</p> <ul class="l1d"> <li> <p class="t6 web-publication-date">19 Jul 2009</p> <p class="t7"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/19/gm-crops-aid-uk-funding?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">UK to spend £100m on supporting GM crops for world's poor</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 web-publication-date">22 Feb 2010</p> <p class="t7"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2010/feb/22/science-weekly-podcast-friends?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Science Weekly: Can you have too many friends?</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 web-publication-date">28 Feb 2011</p> <p class="t7"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2011/feb/28/science-weekly-podcast-aaas-david-nutt?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Science Weekly podcast: AAAS 2011, drugs and the sound of the stars</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 web-publication-date">7 Jan 2010</p> <p class="t7"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/07/gm-food-revolution-plans-dismissed?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Plans for British 'GM food revolution' come under fire</a> </p> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </span> </div> <ul id="article-toolbox"> <li class="printable"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy/print" rel="nofollow" id="printlink" class="printable rollover" title="Link to a printer-friendly version"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_print.gif" alt="Print this" class="trail-icon"/><span>Printable version</span></a></li> <li><a class="rollover send-email" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1705795" title="Opens an email form"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_email-friend.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Send to a friend</span></a></li> <li><a class="rollover send-share" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/share/1705795" title="Opens a share this page in a new window"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_share.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Share</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add?r2PageId=1705795" id="clippable" title="Sends this page to your clippings file" class="rollover anchor-based-login-required package-required-YCLD"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_clip.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Clip</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/contactus/1705795" class="rollover contact-link" title="Displays contact data for guardian.co.uk"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_email-us.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Contact us</span></a></li> <li class="article-history"><a href="#" title="View the history of this article" class="rollover history-link"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/images/icon_history.gif" alt="" class="trail-icon"/><span>Article history</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="toolbox-popup trackable-component" id="send-email-box" data-component="Send email box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Email</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#send-email">Close</a></span> </div> <div> <form method="post" name="emailthis" id="emailthis" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/email/1705795"> <fieldset> <div><label for="to">Recipient's email address</label></div> <input type="text" id="to" name="to" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div><label for="firstName">Your first name</label></div> <input type="text" name="firstName" id="firstName" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div><label for="surname">Your surname</label></div> <input type="text" id="surname" name="surname" maxlength="64" value=""/> </fieldset> <fieldset> <div> <label for="note">Add a note (optional)</label> <br/><span id="warning-side"></span> </div> <textarea name="note" cols="25" rows="5" onkeyup="formCheckerSide(this,250)"></textarea> </fieldset> <div class="inputrow"> <input type="submit" class="share-this-tracking" data-link-name="Email" value="Send"/> </div> <p class="ip_logged">Your IP address will be logged</p> </form> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toolbox-popup trackable-component" id="send-share-box" data-component="Share box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Share</h3> <span class="js-show"><a class="close-toolbox" href="#send-share-box">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="shortlink"> Short link for this page: <a rel="shortlink nofollow" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://gu.com/p/35hzg">http://gu.com/p/35hzg</a> </div> <ul class="share-this-tracking"> <li> <a data-link-name="Stumbleupon" name="lid={share}{stumbleupon}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 stumbleupon"></span>StumbleUpon </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Reddit" name="lid={share}{reddit}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://reddit.com/submit?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 reddit"></span>reddit </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Tumblr" name="lid={share}{Tumblr}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.tumblr.com/share?v=3&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&t=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27" title="Share on Tumblr"> <span class="spr-16 tumblr"></span>Tumblr </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Digg" name="lid={share}{Digg}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 digg"></span>Digg </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="LinkedIn" name="lid={share}{LinkedIn}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27&source=The%20Guardian"> <span class="spr-16 linkedin"></span>LinkedIn </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Google Bookmarks" name="lid={share}{Google Bookmarks}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.google.com/bookmarks/mark?op=edit&bkmk=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 google-bookmarks"></span>Google Bookmarks </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="del.icio.us" name="lid={share}{del.icio.us}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://del.icio.us/post?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy&title=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27"> <span class="spr-16 delicious"></span>del.icio.us </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Livejournal" name="lid={share}{livejournal}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.livejournal.com/update.bml?subject=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"> <span class="spr-16 livejournal"></span>livejournal </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Facebook" name="lid={share}{Facebook}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.guardian.co.uk%2Fscience%2F2012%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscience-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"> <span class="spr-16 facebook"></span>Facebook </a> </li> <li> <a data-link-name="Twitter" name="lid={share}{Twitter}" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/home?status=http%3A%2F%2Fgu.com%2Fp%2F35hzg%2Ftw"> <span class="spr-16 twitter"></span>Twitter </a> </li> </ul> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> <div class="toolbox-popup" id="contact-link-box"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>Contact us</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#contact">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="col first"> <ul> <li> Contact the Science editor<br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:science@guardian.co.uk">science@guardian.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Report errors or inaccuracies: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:reader@observer.co.uk">reader@observer.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Letters for publication should be sent to: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:letters@observer.co.uk">letters@observer.co.uk</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="col"> <ul> <li> If you need help using the site: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/mailto:userhelp@guardian.co.uk">userhelp@guardian.co.uk</a> </li> <li> Call the main Guardian and Observer switchboard: <br/><span>+44 (0)20 3353 2000</span> </li> <li> <ul> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://adinfo-guardian.co.uk/">Advertising guide</a> </li> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/syndication/">License/buy our content</a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="toolbox-popup" id="history-link-box" style="width: 460px"> <div class="send-inner"> <div class="share-top"> <h3>About this article</h3> <span><a class="close-toolbox" href="#history-link-box">Close</a></span> </div> <div class="section"> <h1>Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'</h1> This article appeared on p20 of the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/feb/19/news">Main section</a> section of <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver">the Observer</a> on <time datetime="2012-02-18" pubdate><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2012/feb/19">Saturday 18 February 2012</a></time>. It was published on <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/">guardian.co.uk</a> at <time datetime="2012-02-18T19:00EST" pubdate>19.06 EST on Saturday 18 February 2012</time>. It was last modified at <time datetime="2012-02-21T03:15EST">03.15 EST on Tuesday 21 February 2012</time>. </div> </div> </div> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper six-col" data-component="comp: Below fold ad slot : 3rd ad slot"> <div id="Middle2" class=" hide-on-popup"> <div id="ad-placeholder-Middle2"></div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper six-col" data-component="comp: Advertiser links for article page : Bottom article advertiserlinks"> <div id="advertiser-container"> <script type="text/javascript"> google_ad_client = 'ca-guardian_js'; google_ad_channel = 'science'; </script> <script> google_max_num_ads = '3'; </script> <div id="google-ads-container" class="eight-col edge component advertiser-links" style="display: none;"></div> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (true) { writeScript("http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js", false, function(){}); } // ]]> </script> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper eight-col" data-component="microapp: discussion-main : fetchCommentsForKey : comments top"> <script> var cookie_domain = "www.guardian.co.uk"; </script> <div class="eight-col discussion content-comment-list"> <div class="hd">  <h2 id="start-of-comments">Comments</h2> <form id="sort-comments" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/handlers/sortComments" method="post" autocomplete="false"> <p>435 comments, displaying <span>oldest</span> first</p> <fieldset> <input type="hidden" name="page_url" value="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy"/> <input type="hidden" name="page" value="1"/> <input type="hidden" name="verify" value="eyJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiOjEzMzAyMzA3MzMuNDUyMDA0OSwicmFuZG9tIjoiMWMxMTgzOTRkMzc1OTU0Y2M5NDgwNTM3MTExOTVkZDQiLCJjb21tZW50aW5nX2VuZHBvaW50c190eXBlIjoiR3VhcmRpYW4iLCJyZWRpcmVjdF91cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmd1YXJkaWFuLmNvLnVrL3NjaWVuY2UvMjAxMi9mZWIvMTkvc2NpZW5jZS1zY2VwdGljaXNtLXVzZG9tZXN0aWNwb2xpY3kiLCJrZXkiOiIvcC8zNWh6ZyJ9.rszis0nDTO1DIcf2YIPluV1-Ybs"/> <label for="sort_by">Sort comments by</label> <select name="sort_by"> <option value="date__ascending" selected="selected">Oldest</option> <option value="date__descending">Newest</option> </select> <input type="submit" value="Submit"/> </fieldset> <script> jQ('#sort-comments fieldset').addClass('hidden'); </script> </form> </div> <ul class="comment-legend two-col edge b2"> <li><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://resource.guim.co.uk/discussion/static/1780/images/icons_staff_16.gif" alt="This symbol indicates that that person is The Guardian's staff" width="16" height="16"/>Staff</li> <li><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://resource.guim.co.uk/discussion/static/1780/images/icons_contributor_16.gif" alt="This symbol indicates that that person is a contributor" width="16" height="16"/>Contributor</li> </ul> <ul class="discussion-pagination b3"> <li class="view-latest"><a data-nav-type="latest" href="?commentpage=last#end-of-comments">Latest</a></li> <li>1</li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=2#start-of-comments">2</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=3#start-of-comments">3</a></li> … <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=7#start-of-comments">7</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=8#start-of-comments">8</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=9#start-of-comments">9</a></li> <li class="last view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=2#start-of-comments">Next</a></li> <li class="last view-all"><a data-nav-type="all" href="?commentpage=all#start-of-comments">All</a></li> </ul> <div id="discussion-comments"> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14739954"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_13/1cfba3f0-2fd4-488b-949f-ae4f835c3c24/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/hithlum" title="User profile page">hithlum</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 10:06AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>"In coming years, we will have to ask ourselves if public policies should be based on the advice of experts who have carried out robust and rigorous analysis of the evidence, or if they should be guided by lobbyists who appear driven by narrow ideological dogma.</p></blockquote><p>Its <b>not</b> ideological.</p><p>Its financial.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14739954);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14739954">333</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (3) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14739954"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14739954"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14739954" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14740021"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 10:11AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Time to put the genie back in the lamp and make all donations/payments above a certain cumulative threshold to any NGOs, lobbyists or PR companies, which attempt to influence legislative policy decisions, transparent for all to see. Otherwise, the donations should be taxable, the donation/payment is returned, or the organisation becomes partly taxable. And yes, that includes Greenpeace et al.</p><p>Not many know about the the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.ingoaccountabilitycharter.org/about-the-charter/" rel="nofollow">INGO Acountability Charter</a>, either.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14740021);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14740021">135</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14740021"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14740021"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740021" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14740202"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_13/1cfba3f0-2fd4-488b-949f-ae4f835c3c24/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/hithlum" title="User profile page">hithlum</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 10:25AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468" rel="nofollow">Canadian government is 'muzzling its scientists'</a></p><p>Politics and economics must always trump science.</p><p>The right has surrenderd to the superstitious belief that markets can make better judgments than science about things like air quality and mercury content from power stations.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14740202);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14740202">257</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14740202"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14740202"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740202" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14740306"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 10:32AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Three more things:</p><p>All lobbyists should have the passes that allow them to freely wander the halls of Westminster revoked.</p><p>Any corporate personnel embedded within the offices of Westminster told to throw their belongings in a box and get the hell out.</p><p>If you want to see how far the muzzling of scientists can go, with the result of the electorate being kept in the dark while the corporate message is allowed free reign to influence them before the scientific facts and expert opinion can be put into the light, look no further than Canada, which was also a subject at the AAAS meeting.</p><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468" rel="nofollow">Canadian government is 'muzzling its scientists'</a></p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14740306);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14740306">144</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14740306"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14740306"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740306" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14740317"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 10:33AM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740202">hithlum, 19 February 2012 10:25AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Beat me to it ;)</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14740317);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14740317">19</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14740317"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14740317"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740317" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14740813"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JackAspirin" title="User profile page">JackAspirin</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:11AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>"In the past, it thought the problem was just a matter of education. All its practitioners had to do was make an effort to reach out and talk to teachers, the public and business leaders."</p><p>That's might be a problem. The education system is being crippled all around the world and transformed into a system where people are trained for a future job and certainly not being taught to think for themselves. And USA is again ahead of everybody with the public being often unable to read and even less to write (e.g. in Detroid nearly half of the population are analfabets and it's getting worse with every generation).</p><p>The scientists are then facing an impossible task to reach a completely dumb public through corporate owned media with close ties to the Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big GMO, Big Whatever. The scientists can as well save their effort which is more and more useless because the public wants to hear nice reassurance from the politicians who are prostituting themselves to the corporations' goals (which means nearly all of them).</p><p>And the politics could as well be outsourced to the corporations because the result would be the same, we would just save lots of money we are now paying to parasites which pretend they are defending our interests but in reality do what the corporations bribe them for.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14740813);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14740813">180</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14740813"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14740813"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740813" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741119"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/DariusG" title="User profile page">DariusG</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:34AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>But why this lady Oreske mixes oranges and apples?</p><p>* smoking issue – here science has been settled – nobody denies it harmful effect (+ for science community)</p><p>* DDT issue - again science has been settled – nobody denies it harmful effect (+ for science community )</p><p>* acid rain issue - also science has been settled – nobody denies it is harmful effect (+ for science community)</p><p>* depletion of ozone issue – the prestige of science was used as an excuse for huge business scam, most scientists admit it ( big -- for science )</p><p>* carbon dioxide issue – again, the tide is turning – more and more people realize that that this rubbish alarmist science harms the whole environmental cause (devastation for science credibility!!!)</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741119);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741119">94</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (12) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741119"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741119"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741141"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2012/02/17/TLITB1/e6e0646c-906c-4ef3-a7d9-4c44d97f309f/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/TLITB1" title="User profile page">TLITB1</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:35AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p> Last week Nina Fedoroff, the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), broke ranks in a spectacular manner.</p></blockquote><p>Oh dear. She wouldn't be another one of the people who seemed to have statements timed to go off after the latest DeSmogBlog Heartland release and decided to go ahead anyway even after the revelation of the fake memo would she?</p><p>I'm trying to work out what she has suppossed to have broke ranks from. You have to be within a rank to break away from it. This looks like the normal level of rhetoric from within the ranks of the AAAS.</p><p> It is ironic when you see the rhetoric from people who supposedly <i>do rational</i> for a living get so irrational when they should plainly understand the political arena they themselves indulge in. Very unimpressive.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741141);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741141">75</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741141"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741141"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741141" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741323"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/diabur" title="User profile page">diabur</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:48AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>What is the story behind the US Supreme Court lifting restrictions on corporate funding for political purposes? The anti-democratic implications must have been blatently obvious.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741323);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741323">76</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741323"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741323"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741323" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741346"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/diabur" title="User profile page">diabur</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:49AM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>"* carbon dioxide issue – again, the tide is turning – more and more people realize that that this rubbish alarmist science harms the whole environmental cause (devastation for science credibility!!!)"</p><p>You are either ignorant or an idiot.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741346);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741346">532</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741346"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741346"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741346" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741376"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_13/1cfba3f0-2fd4-488b-949f-ae4f835c3c24/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/hithlum" title="User profile page">hithlum</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:52AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>* depletion of ozone issue – the prestige of science was used as an excuse for huge business scam, most scientists admit it ( big -- for science )</p></blockquote><p>Oh gods an ozone hole denier.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741376);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741376">483</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741376"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741376"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741376" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741378"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/poddie" title="User profile page">poddie</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:52AM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The point being made was that vested interests delayed action on smoking and DDT by arguing that the science was wrong.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741378);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741378">246</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741378"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741378"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741378" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741404"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_03/05ff62e1-7f7e-4599-859e-53124c3bdeeb/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/6ofclubs" title="User profile page">6ofclubs</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:54AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>I see no issue in attacking science as long as its a challenge on the facts and countered with another sensible conclusion backed by other facts and findings. Challenges to scientific findings are good it helps create new therioes and expands on things we already thought we had the answers for.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741404);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741404">46</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741404"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741404"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741404" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741422"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/BleakAcreBite/dde935df-4aeb-4982-b80d-2303050e6bdf/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/BleakAcreBite" title="User profile page">BleakAcreBite</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:56AM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>In this country we need to keep Maths and Science on the curriculum until the student is 18.</p><p>If that had been around in my time I might have a more relevant skillset matching the opportunities available.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741422);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741422">35</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741422"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741422"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741422" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741456"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/DeadFrog" title="User profile page">DeadFrog</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 11:59AM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The problem DariusG is you. You have an agenda. I don't know whether it is simply maliciousness, i.e. you are a troll for your own amusement, or whether it is financial.</p><p>So I invite you to link to current published scientific papers that show greenhouse gases do not warm the atmosphere, or that increasing CO2 content of seawater does not change its pH.<br>Scientific papers, not so blog opinion piece.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741456);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741456">434</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741456"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741456"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741456" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741457"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/10/26/MZorin/93300b8e-26be-456d-999c-2a7fe8a7f34b/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/MZorin" title="User profile page">MZorin</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:00PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p class="moderated">This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-standards">community standards</a>. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-faqs">our FAQs</a>.</p> </div> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741476"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:01PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>* smoking issue – here science has been settled – nobody denies it harmful effect (+ for science community)</p></blockquote><p>They're adept at sowing doubt over what to be done about it...<br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://heartland.org/editorial/1996/08/21/joe-camel-innocent" rel="nofollow">The Heartland Institute - Joe Camel is Innocent!</a><br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Camel" rel="nofollow">Wiki - Joe Camel.</a></p><blockquote><p>* DDT issue - again science has been settled – nobody denies it harmful effect (+ for science community )</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://heartland.org/policy-documents/reconsider-ddt-against-malaria" rel="nofollow">The Heartland Institute - Reconsider DDT against Malaria</a><br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://cei.org/op-eds-and-articles/deploy-ddt-fight-malaria" rel="nofollow">Competitive Enterprise Institute - Deploy DDT To Fight Malaria</a><br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Milloy#DDT" rel="nofollow">Stephen Milloy of Junk Science</a>.<br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://sppiblog.org/tag/ddt" rel="nofollow">Science and Public Policy Institute - DDT </a>(including 'Dog lovers and baby killers', and '3 Billion & Counting: The Cost of banning DDT')</p><blockquote><p>* acid rain issue - also science has been settled – nobody denies it is harmful effect (+ for science community)</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://heartland.org/policy-documents/great-acid-rain-flimflam?artId=5875" rel="nofollow">The Heartland Institute - The Great Acid Rain Flimflam</a></p><blockquote><p>* depletion of ozone issue – the prestige of science was used as an excuse for huge business scam, most scientists admit it ( big -- for science )</p></blockquote><p>Do they? Who? Try and use a source not from a think tank.</p><blockquote><p>* carbon dioxide issue – again, the tide is turning – more and more people realize that that this rubbish alarmist science harms the whole environmental cause (devastation for science credibility!!!)</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.vestas.com/Default.aspx?ID=10332&action=3&NewsID=2888" rel="nofollow">16 Nov. 2011: Climate change more important than financial crisis</a></p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741476);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741476">313</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741476"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741476"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741476" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741498"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/22/roundthings/bba46827-afdd-4a2b-ace8-57c237157ed9/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/roundthings" title="User profile page">roundthings</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:03PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The really scary thing is that if you pour enough money into a propaganda campaign, it seems you can persuade people to believe anything - absolutely anything. Common sense and education can be swamped and out-voted simply by enough money spent on cunning advertising. In fact it doesn't even have to be particularly cunning: an ad telling you simply that black was in fact white would begin to sow doubt in most people's minds if repeated often enough.</p><p>For me this is just another head of the hydra which looms over all our horizons: that the rich have too much power. The democratic revolutions during the 19th century wrested power from the rich, but now we are seeing the fight-back. People of the world, we need to wake up.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741498);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741498">206</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741498"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741498"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741498" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741501"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:03PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741323">diabur, 19 February 2012 11:48AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>What is the story behind the US Supreme Court lifting restrictions on corporate funding for political purposes? The anti-democratic implications must have been blatently obvious.</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission" rel="nofollow">Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission</a><br><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.desmogblog.com/when-corporations-rule-world-thanks-supreme-court" rel="nofollow">When Corporations Rule The World (thanks to the Supreme Court)</a></p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741501);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741501">46</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741501"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741501"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741501" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741512"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/Ben2/a68ad9da-32d8-44ff-af3f-c64c095c9a6d/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Ben2" title="User profile page">Ben2</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:03PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>6ofclubs<br>19 February 2012 11:54AM<br>I see no issue in attacking science as long as its a challenge on the facts and countered with another sensible conclusion backed by other facts and findings. Challenges to scientific findings are good it helps create new therioes and expands on things we already thought we had the answers for.</p></blockquote><p>How about attacks that scientists are traitors trying to destroy everything grat about America?</p><p>Because that's the level this stuff is on.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741512);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741512">102</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741512"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741512"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741512" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741521"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/DeadFrog" title="User profile page">DeadFrog</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:04PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741141">TLITB1, 19 February 2012 11:35AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Do you mean the leak that showed the Heartland Institute is a political lobbyist organization and not a charity. The one that shows them trying to misinform schoolchildren?</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741521);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741521">91</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741521"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741521"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741521" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741522"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/footienut" title="User profile page">footienut</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:04PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Case in point - DariusG has no idea what he is talking about but considers his word-salad to be in some way an insightful look into the nefarious attitudes of evil scientists.</p><p>He thinks for whatever reason that CFC's have no effect on ozone. For some reason, he is under the impression, that CFCs in the presence of sunlight do not photo-dissociate producing a Cl- ion which acts as a catalyst in converting an ozone molecule into an oxygen molecule and an oxygen ion.</p><p>Chemistry is basically just a huge communist plot, probably dreamt up by the same people who picked a random kenyan muslim about 40 years ago on the off chance that he would one day become president of the US.</p><p>Same goes for his take on CO2, only difference is that I am not going to bother to pick apart what he says simply because I and others have done so on countless occasions in the comments of other articles - except to say, that again, it probably commies.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741522);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741522">450</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741522"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741522"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741522" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741534"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/27/haldir/43662230-529d-4d0c-b00f-21fe4e6d92ee/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/haldir" title="User profile page">haldir</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:05PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Though broadly sympathetic, I think it must be said that scientists need to fit their discoveries and ideas into a socially acceptable framework and not the other way around. <br>It's not just about evidence-based research vs. non-rational idealogues and big business.</p><p>For example - it seems perfectly logical and reasonable for usable organs to be taken from the nearly-deceased to be given to the very ill. But there are a lot of other issues to contend with: the 'ownership' of bodies, the question of consent, the unease about receiving another person's organs - non of which are scientific issues and which scientists should probably not have a decision-making role in.</p><p>I shudder at the thought of living in a world dominated by scientists, or one dominated by big businesses and the anti-rational religious groups.</p><p>Perhaps there is a necessary and positive tension between science and society over certain issues.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741534);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741534">17</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (3) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741534"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741534"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741534" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741545"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/10/09/unclewal/62f80631-53cc-4c55-af17-ce7c44630a1c/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/unclewal" title="User profile page">unclewal</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:05PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741378">poddie, 19 February 2012 11:52AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Exactly Poddie. Darius G seems to be mixing ignorance and naivety as opposed to apples and oranges.</p><p>Big business hes financial interests that, to them anyway, outweigh any responsibility to the planet or the health of mankind. </p><p>Science not realising what it was up against is the main point for me from the article. Scientists clearly thought that if they do evidence based research and present the results of this research in a clear manner, then everybody with an ounce of humanity would see that things need to change. Unfortunately, big business has not got one ounce of humanity.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741545);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741545">72</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741545"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741545"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741545" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741580"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/06/08/VarmintRaptScallion/23ff76f4-31f0-4cbe-a29f-0c573ebf9074/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/VarmintRaptScallion" title="User profile page">VarmintRaptScallion</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:08PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p><i>In general, the worst excesses of the anti-science lobbies are confined to the US. However, there are signs that their influence is spreading, and that raises worrying issues, said Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change, in London.</i></p><p>Really? It behooves someone to do some actual journalism then to prove that is actually the case.</p><p>Cos I've been sitting here for the last couple years after worsening my health using a treatment recommended by a paper in the Lancet called the PACE trial. Having seen the statistical inaccuracies in it exposed by multiple sources in intricate detail. Yet nothing is done, no-one talks about it, but it's there sitting in black and white. Richard Horton can dismiss all criticisms in public with an authoritarian voice apparently. Job done.</p><p>Just the slight problem with the 1000s of patients who have reported having their health made worse by it.</p><p>Surely someone is going to catch on with the problem that, governments and medical insurance companies who provide mass healthcare have an incentive to support skepticism and studies which support the cheapest treatments.</p><p>Imagine if they had to send ME patients for MRI scans....</p><p>http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nbm.1692/abstract</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741580);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741580">15</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741580"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741580"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741580" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741592"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/conanthebarbarian/bbba727a-ff70-494a-a883-e527e6ae0b9b/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/conanthebarbarian" title="User profile page">conanthebarbarian</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:08PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>In a world of poverty, austerity, poorly paid jobs and unemployment half the population wouldn't need to care less about science for their entire lives. There are easy meat for well-funded lobby groups. No wonder so many are never interested in it. It is an elite subject for an elite few. Many of the elite like it that way.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741592);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741592">9</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741592"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741592"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741592" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741593"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/Underflow/14229aa1-1d7c-4cc0-ba4f-2717e92f41cb/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Underflow" title="User profile page">Underflow</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:08PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>There's something wrong with politics when the pursuit of votes involves the defence of views based on superstition and the flagrant advance of monied interests, while using unscientific methods to place barriers in the way of progress. If the American right (and Islamic fundamentalism to show the other side of the coin), if they succeed in their aims, we'll be entering a very dark age.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741593);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741593">55</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741593"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741593"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741593" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741605"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2012/02/17/TLITB1/e6e0646c-906c-4ef3-a7d9-4c44d97f309f/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/TLITB1" title="User profile page">TLITB1</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:09PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741521">DeadFrog, 19 February 2012 12:04PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>Do you mean the leak that showed the Heartland Institute is a political lobbyist organization and not a charity. The one that shows them trying to misinform schoolchildren?<br></p></blockquote><p>Did they say "trying to misinform schoolchildren" too in the fake memo? Goodness I am silly for missing that gem . You guys on the rational forensic minded side of the debate have this sown up with absolute logic don't you?</p><p>BTW By "not a charity" I think you mean they are a "not a non-profit under 501(c)(3)" ;)</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741605);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741605">23</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (4) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741605"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741605"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741605" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741615"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/Stealthbong/e88788c5-8a1d-4a22-a185-5bc3030ea934/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Stealthbong" title="User profile page">Stealthbong</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:10PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14740813">JackAspirin, 19 February 2012 11:11AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Agreed with this poster.</p><p>This is clearly an ideological issue, <b>hithlum</b>, not an economic one when you see the sheer numbers of vitriolic attacks on public education in the USA from the right wing. </p><p>The bible-bashing, anti-science right want to be free to create their own realities, free from open-minded critical-thinkers complicating their bubbles with facts and evidence. More and more of these ideologues are pulling their kids out of public schools and homes-schooling, where they are at liberty to indoctrinate their kids without being ridiculed with ideas of 6,000 year old Earths, Muslim conspiracies to take over the world, scientists' conspiracies to rip more taxes from their pockets and liberal/commie conspiracies to kill the American Dream.</p><p>This is why religion is so dangerous. It breeds an uncritical, subservient mindset in which any kind of absurdly illogical and unfounded nonsense can be sewn and nurtured, by furrowing into people's irrational fears and insecurities.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741615);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741615">113</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741615"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741615"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741615" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741715"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_13/1cfba3f0-2fd4-488b-949f-ae4f835c3c24/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/hithlum" title="User profile page">hithlum</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:17PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741605">TLITB1, 19 February 2012 12:09PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>Did they say "trying to misinform schoolchildren" too in the fake memo? </p></blockquote><p>Its also in the documents they admitted to its a long running program. </p><p>Think for yourself instead of dancing to the organ grinders tune.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741715);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741715">54</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741715"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741715"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741715" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741718"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/MichaelPetty" title="User profile page">MichaelPetty</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:17PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>If it were simply a matter of the USA, Canada and perhaps the UK and Australia downgrading science through politics then the global response would be that science, which is the engine of economic growth, would develop in other nations such as China and India, which would outstrip the English speaking world economically even faster than now.<br>But climate change is another matter. If the USA and Europe do not try to reduce global warming then other nations cannot do much about it. And it seems possible that trying to reverse man made climate change will soon be impossible, in which case we are all doomed to self destruction.<br>Really people are irrational all over the world.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741718);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741718">37</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741718"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741718"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741718" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741749"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/09/02/cta_262190_13/1cfba3f0-2fd4-488b-949f-ae4f835c3c24/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/hithlum" title="User profile page">hithlum</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:20PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741718">MichaelPetty, 19 February 2012 12:17PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>it. And it seems possible that trying to reverse man made climate change will soon be impossible, </p></blockquote><p>It never has been possible, all we are trying to do is reduce the future rate of impact.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741749);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741749">17</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741749"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741749"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741749" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741793"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:23PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p><i>“This world is a strange madhouse. Currently, every coachman and every waiter is debating whether relativity theory is correct. Belief in this matter depends on political party affiliation.”</i> -- Einstein to Grossmann, 1920.</p><p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v64/i10/p39_s1?bypassSSO=1" rel="nofollow">Physics Today - Science controversies past and present</a></p><p>The most concerted attacks on science come from so-called grassroots organisations (astroturfers in reality), many of which claim a libertarian stance. Funny how these libertarian groups seem to defend the rights of corporations to poison their neighbors' land and health without permission, though. Hardly libertarian, more pro-corporate neoliberals masquerading as libertarian.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741793);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741793">90</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741793"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741793"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741793" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741815"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/12/04/OrigamiPenguin/642f7513-aa8c-4544-8425-6ae586abdea1/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/OrigamiPenguin" title="User profile page">OrigamiPenguin</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:25PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Big business will continue to trash the ideas of climate change until it is able to put in place all of the measures it needs to be able to control the new low carbon economies of the future. Then you will suddenly find massive enthusiasm for it.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741815);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741815">31</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741815"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741815"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741815" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741822"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Lovecat" title="User profile page">Lovecat</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:25PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>There's only one way to solve this problem (and it isn't a fight). All those who do put their trust in scientific theory, experiment and logical deduction can begin planning for a life protected against the worst natural disasters that will be caused by global warming and ensure the survival of future generations of their families. Perhaps we could begin looking at colonising another planet and only those who believe in climate change are allowed on the rocket.</p><p>Seriously though, the problem is twofold; firstly global warming happens gradually and because the issue became more obvious to scientists analysing data after the industrial revolution and because nobody has lived long enough to personally notice the changes in our climate over the past 200 years, many don't believe anything is unnatural is happening. Secondly, big business always wins, because they have the millions to get their way. Obviously big business and their political cohorts want to deny what's before their eyes, "oil isn't running out" "climate change isn't happening" "let's just carry on as normal", because it'll cost them money to change their ways. It's much easier to pretend climate change scientists are involved in some huge conspiracy of falsified data and bogus theory, than to challenge science with science. It's beyond me how anyone sane could accept the ludicrous notion that hundreds of scientists would sabotage their own careers and dedicate their lives to a fictional cause.</p><p>Of course global warming could also be a partly natural phenomenon that we have accelerated and maybe there's nothing we can do about it. The unfortunate thing is, that the poorest countries will be hit by the consequences first; indeed, we're already seeing that happening with continual droughts across Africa and floods across Asia.</p><p>I wonder, if the melting of the polar ice caps does cause disruption of the gulf stream and plunges Europe into a new ice age, whether climate change deniers will stick with the "global warming isn't happening" lobby. </p><p>Still, there's always one spark of hope, by the time climate change becomes apparent the bees may have died out and most of us humans will have starved to death, thereby slowing down the process of global warming. Isn't nature wonderful?</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741822);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741822">21</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741822"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741822"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741822" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741838"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/zilch/2ce2bca2-3758-4b03-b366-b28e57729916/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/zilch" title="User profile page">zilch</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:27PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>"We are sliding back into a dark era," she said. "And there seems little we can do about it. I am profoundly depressed at just how difficult it has become merely to get a realistic conversation started on issues such as climate change or genetically modified organisms."</p></blockquote><p>very neatly stapling together a cause supported by the green lobby with one on which they are divided</p><p>gosh, did I say green lobby?</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741838);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741838">20</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741838"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741838"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741838" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741843"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/10/12/grumpyoldman/0ae01b07-38bc-45f7-a361-0d1de540b3ba/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/grumpyoldman" title="User profile page">grumpyoldman</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:27PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The problem is that science is increasingly coming up with discoveries that show the extent to which current economic ideology is both damaging and unsustainable.</p><p>But big business and big finance, which are both hopelessly short-termist in their outlook, prefer to shoot the messenger rather than to address the challenges or even profit from the opportunities that the global economic environment presents.</p><p>Such is their collective paranoia and irrationalism, that the findings of science are now equated with the leftist conspiracy to destroy neo-liberal financial capitalism.</p><p>To make matters worse, they have at their disposal a multi-million dollar propaganda industry consisting of compliant think tanks, institutes, and PR organizations, dedicated to winning hearts and minds, and drowning out the voice of pragmatic reason. They have co-opted a significant section of the intelligentsia who are willing accomplices in this project.</p><p>If we carry on down this road, the long-term prospects for humanity (and paradoxically capitalism itself) are not good.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741843);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741843">72</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741843"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741843"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741843" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741858"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/misterwh" title="User profile page">misterwh</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:28PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>"We are sliding back into a dark era," she said. "And there seems little we can do about it. I am profoundly depressed at just how difficult it has become merely to get a realistic conversation started on issues such as climate change or genetically modified organisms."</p></blockquote><p>I'm confused on this one. Regards GMOs, it's scientists who are experimenting, and Green organisations who're going in with theatrical boiler suits ripping those experiments up, no? The science on climate change is trumpeted while that on nuclear is ignored. Big Pharma, Big GMO, Big Oil even, employ <i>a lot</i> of scientists. Or do only those who work for universities count?</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741858);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741858">17</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741858"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741858"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741858" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741861"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/daveje" title="User profile page">daveje</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:28PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741119">DariusG, 19 February 2012 11:34AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>But why this lady Oreske mixes oranges and apples?</p></blockquote><p>She isn't. The science was settled on all the issues you mentioned, but it didn't stop corrupted scientists and foundations from spreading doubt about them.</p><p>And your own attempt at muddying the waters only proves the point. The five issues you mention - smoking, DDT, acid rain, ozone layer, and AGW - have been under relentless anti-science attack, and often by the same people. One name in particular keeps cropping up: S. Fred Singer, who has engaged in shameless attacks on working scientists for decades, and who has been consistently on the wrong side on all of these issues.</p><p>Of course, you would argue that it's only a coincidence that the Heartland Institute receives funding from smoking companies and from the energy sector, and that Singer receives a $5000 a month retainer from Heartland.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741861);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741861">75</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741861"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741861"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741861" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741894"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2012/02/17/TLITB1/e6e0646c-906c-4ef3-a7d9-4c44d97f309f/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/TLITB1" title="User profile page">TLITB1</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:31PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741715">hithlum, 19 February 2012 12:17PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p class="moderated">This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-standards">community standards</a>. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-faqs">our FAQs</a>.</p> </div> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741899"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/coolday" title="User profile page">coolday</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:32PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The anti science lobbyists are at work in the UK but (usually) in a more insidious way - look at the backlash against Attenborough's Frozen Planet - it was made as a criticism of how the birth of a polar bear was filmed (even though this was on the website and really took nothing away from the amazing pictures). It has been suggested that because Attenborough dared to raise global warming in his programme attempts were made to discredit the whole series by showing it as a 'fake' in the hope that many viewers would then simply not believe anything else in the programme!</p><p>Add this to the increasing use of Academy's allowing private investors to have a say in the curriculum (teaching of creationism, anti global warming teachings, etc) this is a frightening following of how this started in the US.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741899);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741899">62</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741899"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741899"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741899" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741905"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/thegreatfatsby" title="User profile page">thegreatfatsby</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:32PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Can somebody please explain to me the difference between hardline islamic cultures that put religion before science and society, that put intolerance before openness and debate and the rightwing fundamentalist republican <i>ideas</i> currently poisoning America? I really can't see any daylight between them.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741905);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741905">123</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741905"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741905"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741905" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741923"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Foom" title="User profile page">Foom</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:34PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741605">TLITB1, 19 February 2012 12:09PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>You seem suspiciously new with a limited set of posting topics. How long have you worked for Heartland's misinformation squad?</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741923);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741923">54</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741923"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741923"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741923" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741932"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2010/08/23/danielearwicker/45873b07-3e64-4086-ba87-1c40d9422b2e/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/danielearwicker" title="User profile page">danielearwicker</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:35PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14739954">hithlum, 19 February 2012 10:06AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>Its not ideological.</p><p>Its financial.</p></blockquote><p>That distinction isn't particularly clear, especially if you take the example of interfering with biology education on religious grounds, where there is no obvious category of big corporations to benefit from it (publishers of creationist text books, maybe?)</p><p>You get votes by appealing to the beliefs held by the ignorant. But then when you retire from the Presidency after your second triumphant term of ushering in a new period of insane theocracy, you get to make millions from speaking engagements. The monetization of politics means that ideology vs profit is very much a grey area these days.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741932);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741932">24</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (0) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741932"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741932"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741932" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741954"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2012/02/17/TLITB1/e6e0646c-906c-4ef3-a7d9-4c44d97f309f/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/TLITB1" title="User profile page">TLITB1</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:37PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741923">Foom, 19 February 2012 12:34PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>You seem suspiciously new with a limited set of posting topics. How long have you worked for Heartland's misinformation squad?</p><p>Thanks. Take me as someone who adores the HI then. Now you can ignore me, ask for me to be banned, or carry on showing how little ability you have to deal with what I have said.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741954);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741954">12</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741954"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741954"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741954" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14741994"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/11/03/JBowers/36013662-4e74-45b5-91a4-19a4acfac470/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/JBowers" title="User profile page">JBowers</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:40PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741861">daveje, 19 February 2012 12:28PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <blockquote><p>She isn't. The science was settled on all the issues you mentioned, but it didn't stop corrupted scientists and foundations from spreading doubt about them.</p></blockquote><p>On the tobacco subject, the first findings on the harm from smoking were in the 1950s, but it took 50 years for the USA to enact legislative controls. A good number of the think tanks, PR frontgroups posing as "scientific institutes", and individuals, who testified for and promoted the Big Tobacco case are now involved in delaying, crushing and reversing legislation designed to curb CO2 emissions. They also tend to oppose and opposed legislation on CFCs, asbestos, sulphur emissions and mercury, too.</p><p>Hacks, flacks and corporate <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&safe=off&q=shill&tbs=dfn:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=Du1AT7OnN8e70QWL6o2PDw&ved=0CCYQkQ4&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=7a4c02153ade1456&biw=1643&bih=859" rel="nofollow">shills</a>.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14741994);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14741994">50</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (2) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14741994"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14741994"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741994" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14742045"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2011/01/06/Venebles/1ac1a1ad-7314-4bac-870e-8940a803392b/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/Venebles" title="User profile page">Venebles</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:43PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Many people have doubts about climate change. This is described as "an attack on science".</p><p>If there is an attack, it's on politicised science, and a good thing too.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14742045);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14742045">45</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14742045"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14742045"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14742045" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14742054"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/PHYZX" title="User profile page">PHYZX</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:44PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741498">roundthings, 19 February 2012 12:03PM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>Pouring enough money in a propogander campaign .</p><p>This is the game changer , and has been for a long time . <br>Monarchy's fund churches who spread propogander about the " divine right too rule " . <br>It's a classic , winning tactic .<br>It's dominance is unsurpassed , from before the roman empire . " Faith schools " teach people what too think and not , how too think . </p><p>Because of the power of this combination , ( monarchy = military might and church = divine authority ) the questioning of either of these establishments in the past , generally cost you your head .</p><p>This is why secularism was forced apon them . ( violently )</p><p>As for our " economic system " ( capitalism ) , it is based on military tactics , ( the capital ship , is the biggest )<br>Which is why it is so hard to change anything , they are built too fight and win .</p><p>The most successful way to defeat them is " non cooperation " , as there is no battle for them too engage in .<br>It is an individual's choice to not cooperate . Scientists should wake up , this is not about the truth or what is best , it's about , power and control . They cannot win this . ( people will get hurt if they try ) .</p><p>Science should stick too educating and informing , leaving individuals to make up their own minds .<br>It's not perfect , but it's more rational and fairer than , as at present with everybody telling everybody else what too do . <br>Fighting is pointless , you are up against the " military industrial complex " , give up .</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14742054);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14742054">1</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14742054"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14742054"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14742054" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14742058"> <li class="comment-author"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/site_furniture/2010/09/01/no-user-image.gif" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/essex1588" title="User profile page">essex1588</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:44PM</p> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p>The issue is not one of the rejection of science, but of the politicization of science. The convergence of proposed solutions to the alleged inevitability of man-made global warming and the leftist political agenda is striking. Is this mere coincidence? One wonders. Also, the certitude with which many on the left have simply declared that the debate over man-made global warming is over seems to me to be the consumate anti-science statement. In science the debate is never over, but an ongiong process of testing propositions and refining which is theoretically without end. The fact of the matter is that there is significant doubt within the scientific community as to veracity of the claims being made by the most ardent supporters of man-made global warming as fact. At the very least there are serious questions about the apocalyptic claims being made with respect to the social, political and economic dislocations that would result even if man-made global warming were indeed true. For governments around the world to already begin spending literally hundreds of billions of dollars to forestall a disaster whose very existence and scope are by no means certain, seems to me to be the epitome of foolishness.</p> </div> </li> <li class="comment-tools"> <ul> <li class="recomended"> <a title="Recommend this comment" class="recommend" onclick="recommendComment(14742058);return false;">Recommend?</a> (<span class="recommended" id="recommended-count-14742058">24</span>) </li> <li class="reply"> Responses (1) </li> <li class="abuse-report"> <a class="report-abuse " href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/report-abuse/comment/14742058"> Report </a> </li> <li class="clip"> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/clippings/add" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="microappName" value="discussion-main"/> <input type="hidden" name="microappItemId" value="comment-14742058"/> <input class="form-based-login-required package-required-RCO" type="submit" value="Clip" title="Add this comment to your profile bookmarks"/> </form> </li> <li class="link">| <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14742058" title="Permalink to this comment" alt="Permalink to this comment"> Link </a> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> <ul class="comment b2" id="comment-14742072"> <li class="comment-author" id="end-of-comments"> <div class="badges"> </div> <div class="profile"> <img class="author-profile-picture" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/discussion/avatars/2012/01/31/9999/77f6ae00-7b22-4ad8-905c-c8624e7e799a/60x60.png" height="60" width="60" alt=""/> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/user/9999" title="User profile page">9999</a> <p class="date">19 February 2012 12:45PM</p> </div> <div class="response-to"> Response to <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/comment-permalink/14741456">DeadFrog, 19 February 2012 11:59AM</a> </div> <div class="comment-body"> <p class="moderated">This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn't abide by our <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-standards">community standards</a>. Replies may also be deleted. For more detail see <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/community-faqs">our FAQs</a>.</p> </div> </li> </ul> </div> </div> <ul class="discussion-pagination b3"> <li class="view-latest"><a data-nav-type="latest" href="?commentpage=last#end-of-comments">Latest</a></li> <li>1</li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=2#start-of-comments">2</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=3#start-of-comments">3</a></li> … <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=7#start-of-comments">7</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=8#start-of-comments">8</a></li> <li class="view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=9#start-of-comments">9</a></li> <li class="last view-next"><a data-nav-type="next" href="?commentpage=2#start-of-comments">Next</a></li> <li class="last view-all"><a data-nav-type="all" href="?commentpage=all#start-of-comments">All</a></li> </ul> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper eight-col" data-component="microapp: discussion-main : fetchPostCommentForm : comments"> <p id="post-area">Comments on this page are now closed.</p> <script type="text/javascript"> jQ(document).ready(function(){ // check jQuery UI hasn't been loaded in by a microapp. short-term fix. if (!jQuery.ui) { jQ.getScript('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://resource.guim.co.uk/discussion/static/1780/jquery-ui-1.7.3.custom.min.js'); } }); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> function fix_domain_for_careers(url){ var re, fixed_url; var careers_length = "careers".length; if (window.location.host.substr(0, careers_length) === "careers") { re = /http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120226043213\/http:\/\/www\./; fixed_url = url.replace(re, "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://careers."); } else { re = /http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120226043213\/http:\/\/careers\./; fixed_url = url.replace(re, "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www."); } return fixed_url; } jQ(function() { fixPluckCommentUrl('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/api/resolvePluckCommentKey?pluck-comment-keys=&callback='); var loading_box = jQ("<div class='report-form-loading'>Loading</div>"); jQ('a.report-abuse:not(.no-abuse-popup)').live('click', function(ev) { ev.preventDefault(); loading_box.dialog({ title: "Abuse report", draggable: false, modal: true, width: 400, minHeight: 320, resizable: false, beforeclose: function(event, ui) { var readOnly = jQ('.report-abuse-ajax-readonly').length; if(readOnly == 1) return true; var reason = jQ('.report-abuse-ajax-form textarea#id_reason').val(); var thanksPage = jQ('.report-form-loading p[data-abuse-report-accepted-for-comment]').length; if (thanksPage == 0) { thanksPage = jQ('.report-form-loading p[data-abuse-report-accepted-for-profile]').length; } if(thanksPage == 0) { if(reason == 0) { return true; } else { return confirm("Closing this window without pressing \"Report\" will result in your words being lost. Are you sure?"); } } else { return true; } }, close: function(ev, ui) { loading_box.remove(); } }); abuse_report_url = this.href.replace('report-abuse', 'report-abuse-ajax'); abuse_report_url = fix_domain_for_careers(abuse_report_url); jQ.ajax({ url: abuse_report_url, success: function(data){ loading_box.html(data); } }); }); jQ('body').delegate('.report-abuse-ajax-form form', 'submit', function(ev) { ev.preventDefault(); var form = jQ(this); var url = fix_domain_for_careers(form.attr('action')); jQ.post(url, form.serialize(), function(html) { form.parents('.ui-dialog-content').html(html); // Has the abuse report been accepted? var el = jQ(html); var comment_id = el.attr('data-abuse-report-accepted-for-comment'); var profile_id = el.attr('data-abuse-report-accepted-for-profile'); if (comment_id) { jQ('ul#comment-' + comment_id).find('li.abuse-report').remove(); } else if (profile_id) { jQ('p.report-abuse').remove(); } var is_successful_submission = (comment_id || profile_id); if (is_successful_submission) { if(guardian.r2.omniture.isAvailable()) { // track with omniture s.linkTrackVars = 'events,eVar37'; s.linkTrackEvents = 'event37'; s.eVar37 = 'Comment:Report Abuse'; s.events = 'event37'; s.tl(true, 'o', 'Comment report abuse'); } window.setTimeout(function() { loading_box.dialog("close"); }, 3000); } }); }); //make sure submit button is enabled onReady. jQ('#newcommenting-form input[type=submit]' ).removeAttr('disabled'); var newFormURL = window.location.protocol + '//' + window.location.host + window.location.pathname + '?#post-area'; jQ('div#login-container form.post-your-comments').attr('action', newFormURL); jQ('div#signup-container input').click(function(){ urlStack.clearUrlStack(); urlStack.pushUrlOntoStack(newFormURL); document.location = 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://users.guardian.co.uk/signup/tr/1,,-720,00.html'; }); jQ('.recomended').show(); jQ('#newcommenting-form').submit(function(){ jQ('input[type=submit]', this).attr('disabled', 'disabled'); }); }); //end jQ ready function openAbuseBox(commentId) { jQ("#abuse-report-comment-id").val(commentId); var loading_box = jQ('<div class="report-form-loading">Loading</div>'); loading_box.dialog({ title:"Abuse report", draggable: false, modal:true, width:400, minHeight:320, resizable: false, beforeclose: function(event, ui) { var reason = jQ('textarea#id_reason').val(); if (reason != "") { return confirm("Closing this window without pressing \"Report\" will result in your words being lost. Are you sure?"); } else { return true; } } }); } function recommendComment(commentId) { var post_url = "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/discussion/handlers/recommendComment"; post_url = fix_domain_for_careers(post_url); jQ.post(post_url, { comment_id: commentId }, function(data) { if (data == "OK") { var span = jQ("#recommended-count-" + commentId); span.prev('a').contents().unwrap(); span.text(parseInt(span.text(), 10)+1); } else { var span = jQ("#recommended-count-" + commentId); span.prev('a').contents().unwrap(); } }); } </script> </span> </div> <div id="promo"> <div id="promo" class="four-col edge"> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="comp: Flexible right hand slot advert : right hand ad slot on all sites"> <div id="Right1" class=" hide-on-popup"> <div id="ad-placeholder-Right1"></div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="microapp: zeitgeist : Most Viewed Old Promo : Most viewed by section - Zeitgeist"> <style> .m-zeitgeist .bd { float: left } /* for the IE6 lols */ .m-zeitgeist .hd { padding-bottom: 0px; margin-bottom: -12px} .m-zeitgeist .hd h2 { padding-bottom: 12px; } .m-zeitgeist #att-panes { background-color: #fff; float: left; } .m-zeitgeist .att-toggle-pane { min-width:280px; } .m-zeitgeist ol { padding: 0 5px; } .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist ol { padding-left: 0; } .m-zeitgeist .zg-date { color: #D61D00; padding-left:5px; padding-top: 5px; } .m-zeitgeist ol li { clear: both; padding-left: 15px; } .m-zeitgeist div#att-most-viewed ol li.l1, .m-zeitgeist div#att-latest ol li.l1 { padding-bottom: 9px !important; } .m-zeitgeist ol li.footer { clear: both; padding-left: 0px !important; padding-top: 5px !important; } .m-zeitgeist .rank { float: left; margin-left: -15px; } .m-zeitgeist .kicker { font-weight: bold; } .m-zeitgeist ol li.thumb { padding-left: 0; } .m-zeitgeist ol li.thumb .rank { margin-left: 0; } .m-zeitgeist ol li img { float: left; margin: 0 10px 3px 0; } .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist ol li { border-top: none; padding: 0; border-top: none; } .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist ol li .zeit-link {background-color: #fff; padding: 5px 0 9px 5px; border-top: 1px dotted #999; margin-bottom: 0px; } .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist ol li.footer { border-top:1px dotted #999; padding: 5px 0 9px 10px; margin-left: 5px } .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist .m-zeigeist ol { padding-left: 0} /* zeit-up */ .m-zeitgeist #most-zeitgeist .what-is { float: none; padding: 0 3px; vertical-align: middle; cursor: pointer; } .about-zeit { position: relative; } .zeit-popup { position: absolute; display: none; background-color: #dbedf3; color: #333; padding: 6px; width: 200px; } .fade-1 { border-left: 5px solid #801100 !important;} .fade-2 { border-left: 5px solid #95382A !important;} .fade-3 { border-left: 5px solid #AA5F54 !important;} .fade-4 { border-left: 5px solid #BF867E !important;} .fade-5 { border-left: 5px solid #D4ADA8 !important;} .m-zeitgeist div.hd { padding-bottom: 0; } .m-zeitgeist.most-viewed div.hd { padding-bottom: 7px; } </style> <script type="text/javascript"> jQ(function($){$('.about-zeit').each(function(){var distance=-10;var time=250;var hideDelay=500;var hideDelayTimer=null;var beingShown=false;var shown=false;var trigger=$('.what-is',this);var info=$('.zeit-popup',this).css('opacity',0);$([trigger.get(0),info.get(0)]).mouseover(function(){if(hideDelayTimer)clearTimeout(hideDelayTimer);if(beingShown||shown){return;}else{beingShown=true;info.css({top:-97,right:0,display:'block'}).animate({top:'-='+distance+'px',opacity:1},time,'swing',function(){beingShown=false;shown=true;});}return false;}).mouseout(function(){if(hideDelayTimer)clearTimeout(hideDelayTimer);hideDelayTimer=setTimeout(function(){hideDelayTimer=null;info.animate({top:'-='+distance+'px',opacity:0},time,'swing',function(){shown=false;info.css('display','none');});},hideDelay);return false;});});}); </script>  <div class="m-zeitgeist promo-component four-col attention-data"> <div class="hd"> <h3>On Science</h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <div id="att-toggle"> <ul class="tabs"> <li> <a class="active" href="#att-most-viewed">Most viewed</a> </li> <li> <a class="inactive" href="#most-zeitgeist">Zeitgeist</a> </li> <li> <a class="inactive" href="#att-latest">Latest</a> </li> </ul> <div id="att-panes"> <div class="att-tabs att-toggle-pane" id="att-most-viewed"> <p class="b2 zg-date">Last 24 hours</p> <ol> <li class="l1 thumb"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/2/23/1330006269570/Scientist-looking-down-a--004.jpg"/> <span class="rank">1. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/feb/23/science-communication-goes-viral">Science communication goes viral</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">2. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy">Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era'</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">3. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/neurophilosophy/2012/feb/23/brain-new-cells-adult-neurogenesis">Does your brain produce new cells?</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">4. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/26/krister-shalm-swing-dance-quantum-physics">Krister Shalm: the lindy hop can explain quantum mechanics</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">5. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/12/black-scholes-equation-credit-crunch">The mathematical equation that caused the banks to crash</a> </li> <li class="more-most-viewed l1 footer"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/most-viewed/science">More most viewed</a> </li> </ol> </div> <div class="att-tabs att-toggle-pane initially-off" id="most-zeitgeist"> <p class="b2 zg-date">Last 24 hours</p> <ol> <li class="l1 science fade-1"> <div class="zeit-link"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/feb/21/death-denial-hiv-aids">Death by denial: The campaigners who continue to deny HIV causes Aids</a></div> </li> <li class="l1 science fade-2"> <div class="zeit-link"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/feb/23/scientists-basic-research-business">Scientists have sold their souls – and basic research – to business</a></div> </li> <li class="l1 science fade-3"> <div class="zeit-link"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/23/faster-light-neutrinos-faulty-connection">Faster-than-light neutrinos: was a faulty connection to blame?</a></div> </li> <li class="l1 science fade-4"> <div class="zeit-link"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/25/7">Today's mystery bird for you to identify</a></div> </li> <li class="l1 science fade-5"> <div class="zeit-link"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/richard-dawkins-disbelief-slave-trade-ancestor">Richard Dawkins expresses disbelief over slave owner ancestor story</a></div> </li> <li class="l1 footer about-zeit"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/zeitgeist">More zeitgeist</a> <img class="what-is" alt="What is Zeigeist?" title="" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/microapps/zeitgeist/about-zeitgeist.gif"/> <div id="zeit-popup" class="zeit-popup"> <strong>What is Zeitgeist?</strong> <p>Zeitgeist is an experiment in showing trending news, topics and articles from the Guardian. Find out more in <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/insideguardian/2010/feb/03/zeitgeist">our blog post</a>.</p> </div> </li> </ol> </div> <div class="att-tabs att-toggle-pane initially-off" id="att-latest"> <p class="b2 zg-date">Last 24 hours</p> <ol> <li class="l1 thumb"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2012/2/23/1330002422202/krister-shalm-jumping-in--003.jpg"/> <span class="rank">1. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/26/krister-shalm-swing-dance-quantum-physics">Krister Shalm: the lindy hop can explain quantum mechanics</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">2. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/25/4">Mystery bird: golden whistler, Pachycephala pectoralis</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">3. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/25/7">Today's mystery bird for you to identify</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">4. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/life-and-physics/2012/feb/25/1">Gaming the system? Neutrinos, theorists and citations</a> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">5. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/grrlscientist/2012/feb/25/1">Twirl-a-squirrel champ</a> </li> <li class="more-latest l1 footer"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/all">All today's stories</a> </li> </ol> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="microapp: static-serve : Gas and electricity deal finder (promo) : energy comparison"> <div class="promo-component four-col edge" id="gasAndElectricityDeals"> <div class="hd"> <h3><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianenergycomparison.co.uk/guardian?INTCMP=es_money">Find the cheapest gas & electricity deals</a></h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <p class="compare_deals"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianenergycomparison.co.uk/guardian?INTCMP=es_money">Compare 1,000s of tariff deals from top suppliers</a></p> <form action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianenergycomparison.co.uk/guardian/fri/domesticenergy/DomesticEnergySearchCriteria/QuickQuote?widget=Fri.Xhl.MvcWeb.Model.Energy.DomesticEnergy.Widgets.ExtendedWidget" id="simpleEstForm" method="get" name="simpleEstForm"> <div id="divCalculator"> <label for="PostCode" id="postcodeLabel"> Enter your postcode: <input id="PostCode" name="PostCode" type="text" value=""/> </label> <fieldset id="usage"> Select your usage: <label for="usage_low" id="usage_lowLabel"> <input type="radio" value="low" name="usage" id="usage_low"/> Low </label> <label for="usage_medium" id="usage_mediumLabel"> <input type="radio" value="medium" name="usage" id="usage_medium" checked="checked"/> Medium </label> <label for="usage_high" id="usage_highLabel"> <input type="radio" value="high" name="usage" id="usage_high"/> High </label> </fieldset> <input type="hidden" value="es_money" id="INTCMP" name="INTCMP"/> <input type="submit" value="Calculate" id="calculate" name="calculate"/> </div> </form> </div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="comp: Shopping reader offers : Guardian Ecostore on eco keywords"> <div class="reader-offers promo-component"> <div class="hd"> <h3>Bestsellers from the Guardian shop</h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <ul> <li class="inline-pic"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/GuardianOffers/TRUMEM1B/119268" class="link-image"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/GOTruebellUKLtd/customerimages/products/t_TRUMEM1B.jpg" alt="Steepletone Memphis music centre"/> </a></li> <li><p class="t6"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/mall/productpage.cfm/GuardianOffers/TRUMEM1B/119268">Steepletone Memphis music centre</a></p></li> <li><p>Play your cherished vinyl, tapes and CDs or transfer them to digital format for just £149.95.</p></li> <li><p class="price">From: £7.95</p></li> </ul> </div> <div class="ft"> <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianoffers.co.uk/">Shop more reader offers</a></li> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/shopping">See all offers and services from the Guardian</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="microapp: twitter-app : Grouped Twitter Feed (Promo) : Twitter micro-app"> <div id="scienceblogs" class="promo-component twitter-container" data-fetch-url="http://resource.guim.co.uk/twitter/jsonlist/scienceblogs.jsonp" data-latest-tweet="173537805279043584"> <div class="hd"> <h3>Science bloggers on Twitter</h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <p class="l2">Follow all the top science stories of the day on Twitter</p> <ul> <li class="l1 tweet"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/iansample"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/829965873/isAQBasic_normal.jpg" alt="iansample" height="40" width="40"/></a> <p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/iansample"><strong>iansample:</strong></a> I missed this. I hope you didn't: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://t.co/3csKHTk7" target="_new">http://t.co/3csKHTk7</a> All power to you, lads <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/jimgiles" target="_new">@jimgiles</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/bobbiejohnson" target="_new">@bobbiejohnson</a> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23matter">#matter</a></p> <span><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/iansample/statuses/173537805279043584">about 5 hours, 47 minutes ago</a></span> </li> <li class="l1 tweet"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/1388977293/Me_normal.jpg" alt="mocost" height="40" width="40"/></a> <p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost"><strong>mocost:</strong></a> "Could the smell of rosemary enhance your thyme on a crossword puzzle? It's parsley-ble, according to a new study." <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://t.co/y0K37GMZ" target="_new">http://t.co/y0K37GMZ</a></p> <span><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost/statuses/173525519063711744">about 6 hours, 35 minutes ago</a></span> </li> <li class="l1 tweet"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/1388977293/Me_normal.jpg" alt="mocost" height="40" width="40"/></a> <p><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost"><strong>mocost:</strong></a> My chicken neuroanatomy is a bit rusty but I'm pretty sure "severing their frontal cortexes" wouldn't cause brain death <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://t.co/rMKCbcSA" target="_new">http://t.co/rMKCbcSA</a></p> <span><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/mocost/statuses/173524912835788801">about 6 hours, 38 minutes ago</a></span> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="ft"> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://twitter.com/guardianscience/science-bloggers/">• Follow our science bloggers on a Twitter list</a><br>• <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/twitter/list/scienceblogs">Find more tweets from our team</a></div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="microapp: guardian-bookshop : Bestsellers : bookshop"> <style> .m-guardianbookshop .rank { float: left; margin-left: -15px; } .m-guardianbookshop .thumb .rank { margin-left: 0; } .m-guardianbookshop h4 { border-top: none !important; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 5px !important; padding: 5px 0 8px 0 !important; } .m-guardianbookshop .bestsellers { background-color: #fff; padding-bottom: 17px;} .m-guardianbookshop ol { padding: 0 5px; } .m-guardianbookshop .l1 { clear: both; padding-left: 15px; } .m-guardianbookshop .thumb { padding-left: 0; } .m-guardianbookshop .thumb img { float: left; margin: 2px 10px 9px 0;} .m-guardianbookshop .price { display: inline; } .m-guardianbookshop .thumb .price { display: block; } .m-guardianbookshop .rank, .m-guardianbookshop .book-title { font-weight: bold; } .m-guardianbookshop input { border: 1px solid #999; width: 75%; min-height: 16px; margin-top: 8px; padding: 3px 2px;} </style> <div class="m-guardianbookshop promo-component"> <div class="hd"> <h3> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/"><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://resource.guim.co.uk/global/static/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgu-books.appspot.com%2Fimg%2Flogo-guardian-bookshop.png" alt="Guardian Bookshop" title=""/></a> </h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <div class="bestsellers"> <h4>This week's bestsellers</h4> <ol> <li class="l1 thumb"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://resource.guim.co.uk/books/gubookshop/thumbnail/images.bertrams.com/ProductImages/services/GetImage?Source=BERT&Quality=WEB&EAN13=9781444727920&Component=FRONTCOVER" title="Science Delusion"/> <span class="rank">1. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781444727920" class="book-title">Science Delusion</a> <p> by Rupert Sheldrake <span class="price">£19.99</span> </p> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">2. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141032139" class="book-title">Moonwalking with Einstein</a> <p> by Joshua Foer <span class="price">£9.99</span> </p> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">3. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780141041452" class="book-title">Periodic Tales</a> <p> by Hugh Aldersey-Williams <span class="price">£9.99</span> </p> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">4. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780306819117" class="book-title">Why Does E=mc2?</a> <p> by Brian Cox <span class="price">£8.99</span> </p> </li> <li class="l1"> <span class="rank">5. </span> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781402788291" class="book-title">Math Book</a> <p> by Clifford Pickover <span class="price">£12.99</span> </p> </li> </ol> </div> <div class="search"> <p> Search the Guardian bookshop </p> <form method="POST" action="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/search.do" name="QuickSearchForm"> <input type="text" class="searchBox" value="" name="keyword"> <button class="searchBtn" type="submit"> <span class="searchText">Search</span> </button> <input type="hidden" value="" name="author"> </form> </div> </div> </div> </span> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper four-col" data-component="comp: Sponsored features : sponsored features"> <div class="promo-component json-features x31 four-col" style="display: none;"> <div class="hd"> <h3>Sponsored feature</h3> </div> <div class="bd inline-pic"> <a href="" class="link-image"><img width="130" height="121" alt=""/></a> <div id="x31" class=" hide-on-popup"> <div id="ad-placeholder-x31"></div> </div> <span class="x31-script-placeholder"></span> <script> function showSponsoredFeaturex31(){ if (window.sponJSON) { if(typeof(sponJSON) === 'object') { adx31 = sponJSON; var node = jQ('.json-features.x31'); convertJSONtoAd( node.find('img:first-child'), node.find('a.t6'), node.find('p:last-child'), adx31, node.find('.hd').children().eq(0), 'x31' ); } } } jQ(document).ready(function(){ jQ('.x31-script-placeholder').writeCapture().replaceWith('<script>showSponsoredFeaturex31()<' + '/script>') }) </script> <a href="" class="t6"></a> <p></p> </div> </div> </span> <div id="promo" class="four-col edge"> </div> </div> </div> <span class="trackable-component component-wrapper eight-col" data-component="microapp: related-information : Related information horizontal : related-information-horizontal"> <div class="related-content eight-col component"> <div class="hd"> <h3>Related information</h3> </div> <div class="bd"> <div class="two-col"> <div class="related-keywords"> <h4 class="t6 b4"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Environment</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Oil</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Climate change</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gm?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">GM</a></li> </ul> </div><div class="related-keywords"> <h4 class="t6 b3"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Science</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/aaas?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">AAAS</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/scienceofclimatechange?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Climate change</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/genetics?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Genetics</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-scepticism?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Science and scepticism</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/science-policy?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Science policy</a></li> </ul> </div><div class="related-keywords"> <h4 class="t6 b3"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Business</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Oil</a></li> </ul> </div><div class="related-keywords"> <h4 class="t6 b3"><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">World news</a></h4> <ul> <li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usdomesticpolicy?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">US domestic policy</a> · </li><li><a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-elections-2012?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">US elections 2012</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="two-col"> <a class="related-content-image" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2012/jan/26/1"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/1/19/1326974393824/Stargazing-Live-presenter-003.jpg"/> </a> <p class="t6"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2012/jan/26/1?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">The BBC's problem with science</a> </p> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">26 Jan 2012</p> <p class="related-content-trail-text">Martin Robbins: As Ed Vaizey offers to meet with the BBC to discuss the representation of women on and off air, it's time to highlight another minority group excluded by broadcasters - scientists</p> <p class="b3 two-col related-content-footer"></p> </div> <div class="two-col"> <ul class="l1d"> <li> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">3 May 2010</p> <p class="t7"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/02/labour-science-policy-election?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Labour answers questions about its science policy</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">18 Feb 2008</p> <p class="t7"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/18/gm.contamination?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Consequences of GM crop contamination 'are set to worsen'</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">14 Feb 2010</p> <p class="t7"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/feb/14/oil-sands-ban-legal-challenge?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Oil groups mount legal challenge to Schwarzenegger's tar sands ban</a> </p> </li><li> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">24 Jul 2003</p> <p class="t7"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2003/jul/24/food.gm?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">Good and bad science on food</a> </p> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="two-col edge"> <a class="related-content-image" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/20/bbc-climate-change-science-coverage"> <img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/7/20/1311174658314/Gavin-Esler-of-BBC2s-News-003.jpg" alt="Gavin Esler of BBC2's Newsnight"/> </a> <p class="t6"> <a class="related-content-headline" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jul/20/bbc-climate-change-science-coverage?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487">BBC gives too much weight to fringe views on issues such as climate change</a> </p> <p class="t6 related-content-publication-date">20 Jul 2011</p> <p class="related-content-trail-text">A review of the BBC's science coverage has concluded that its drive for impartiality lends too much credence to maverick views on MMR, climate change and GM</p> <p class="b3 two-col edge related-content-footer"></p> </div> </div> </div> </span> <div id="footer-container"> <div id="footer" class="news footer b4"> <ul id="footer-links"> <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://syndication.guardian.co.uk/" class="link-text">License/buy our content</a> </li> | <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/privacy-policy" class="link-text">Privacy policy</a> </li> | <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/terms-of-service" class="link-text">Terms of service</a> </li> | <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/advertising" class="link-text">US Advertising</a> </li> | <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/index/subjects/a" class="link-text">A - Z index</a> </li> | <li> <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://www.guardian.co.uk/info" class="link-text">About guardiannews.com</a> </li> </ul> <ul id="copyright-links"> <li>© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.</li> </ul> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://resource.guim.co.uk/global/survey/foresee/foresee-trigger.js"></script> </div> <script id="omnitureGeneratorScript" type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if(true) { var s_account="guardiangu-science,guardiangu-network"; writeScript('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/omniture-H.22.4.js', false, function(){}); } //]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> window.optimizely = window.optimizely || []; window.optimizely.push("sc_activate"); </script> <script id="omnitureScript" type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if(true) { if (false) { s.pageName = document.title; } else { s.pageName="Attacks paid for by big business are \'driving science into a dark era\':Article:1705795"; } s.channel = "Science"; s.pageType=""; s.server='55'; s.prop2='GUID:(none)'; s['prop3']="Obs"; s['prop4']="AAAS (Science),Climate change (Science),Genetics (Science),Science and scepticism,Science policy,Science,US domestic policy,US elections 2012 (News),Oil (business),Business,Oil (environment),Climate change (Environment),GM (Environment),Environment"; s['prop5']="Unclassified,Credit Crunch,Business Markets,Climate Change,Not commercially useful,Energy,Ethical Living,US Elections"; s['prop6']="Robin McKie"; s['prop7']="12-Feb-21"; s['prop8']="1705795"; s['prop9']="Article"; s['prop10']="News"; s['prop11']="Science"; s['prop13']=""; s['prop25']=""; s['prop30']="content"; s.prop47="US"; s.hier2="GU/Science/AAAS"; s.events=""; s.eVar23=""; try { if (guardian.r2.OmnitureTrackingOverride) { new guardian.r2.OmnitureTrackingOverride(s); } } catch(err) { } if(jQ.cookie("GU_OMNITURE") !== null) { s.events = jQ.cookie("GU_OMNITURE"); jQ.cookie("GU_OMNITURE", null, { path: '/', domain: '.guardian.co.uk'}); } var s_code=s.t();if(s_code)document.write(s_code); } //]]> </script> <noscript id="omnitureNoScript"> <div><img alt="" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-science,guardiangu-network/1/H.22.4/68863?ns=guardian&pageName=Attacks+paid+for+by+big+business+are+%27driving+science+into+a+dark+era%27%3AArticle%3A1705795&ch=Science&c3=Obs&c4=AAAS+%28Science%29%2CClimate+change+%28Science%29%2CGenetics+%28Science%29%2CScience+and+scepticism%2CScience+policy%2CScience%2CUS+domestic+policy%2CUS+elections+2012+%28News%29%2COil+%28business%29%2CBusiness%2COil+%28environment%29%2CClimate+change+%28Environment%29%2CGM+%28Environment%29%2CEnvironment&c5=Unclassified%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CClimate+Change%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CEnergy%2CEthical+Living%2CUS+Elections&c6=Robin+McKie&c7=12-Feb-21&c8=1705795&c9=Article&c10=News&c11=Science&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FScience%2FAAAS&c2=GUID:(none)" width="1" height="1"/></div> </noscript> <script> var _qevents = _qevents || []; (function() { var elem = document.createElement('script'); elem.src = (document.location.protocol == "https:" ? "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/https://secure" : "http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://edge") + ".quantserve.com/quant.js"; elem.async = true; elem.type = "text/javascript"; var scpt = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; scpt.parentNode.insertBefore(elem, scpt); })(); _qevents.push( { qacct:'p-73ktnlRTKQPTw', labels: 'science'} ); </script> <noscript><div style="display: none;"><img src="//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-73ktnlRTKQPTw.gif?labels=science" height="1" width="1" alt="Quantcast"/></div></noscript> <script> var qcResults = function (result) { for (var i = 0, len = result.segments.length; i < len; i++) { OAS_query += 'qc=' + result.segments[i].id + '&'; } } </script> <script src="//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213js_/http://pixel.quantserve.com/api/segments.json?a=p-73ktnlRTKQPTw&callback=qcResults"></script> ; <script id="componentTrackingScript" type="text/javascript"> if (true) { jQ(document).ready(function () { jQ('a[data-cpt]').each( function () { jQ(this).click( function () { var cpId = jQ(this).attr('data-cpt').split("-")[1]; var currentLink = jQ(this).attr('href'); if (currentLink.indexOf('intcmp=') == -1) { if(currentLink.indexOf('?') == -1) { var separator = '?' } else { var separator = '&' } jQ(this).attr('href', currentLink + separator + "intcmp=" + cpId); } }); }); }); } </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (true) { // guardian.co.uk Connect Adprobe Tag, MPU [9814], Leaderboard [9815] var wlOrd = new Date().getTime(); document.write('<scr' + 'ipt type="text/javascript" src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://req.connect.wunderloop.net/AP/1566/6033/10343/js?cus=10343,10344&ord=' + wlOrd + '"></sc' + 'ript>'); } // ]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if (true) { OAS_query += 'wl10343=' + wl10343camp + '&wl10344=' + wl10344camp + '&'; } // ]]> </script> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ if(true) { ensurePackage("guardian.r2.revsci"); guardian.r2.revsci.cookieDomain = '.guardian.co.uk'; guardian.r2.revsci.gu_geo_country = 'usa'; guardian.r2.revsci.siteName = 'Science'; guardian.r2.revsci.commercialFolder = 'US+Elections' addEvent(null, 'load', function () { writeScript('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://js.revsci.net/gateway/gw.js?csid=E05516', true, function() { writeScript('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/revsci.js', true, function() { rs_initTracking(); }) }) }); } // ]]> </script> <noscript> <div><img src="http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://pix01.revsci.net/E05516/a3/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/noscript.gif" alt=""/></div> </noscript> <script type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ function OAS_NORMAL(pos) { document.write('<A HREF="' + OAS_url + 'click_nx.ads/' + OAS_sitepage + '/1' + OAS_rns + '@' + pos + '!' + pos + '?' + OAS_query + '" TARGET=' + OAS_target + '>'); document.write('<IMG SRC="' + OAS_url + 'adstream_nx.ads/' + OAS_sitepage + '/1' + OAS_rns + '@' + pos + '!' + pos + '?' + OAS_query + '" BORDER=0></A>'); } OAS_version = 11; if ((navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mozilla/3') != -1) || (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mozilla/4.0 WebTV') != -1)) OAS_version = 10; if (true) { if (OAS_version >= 11) document.write('<scr' + 'ipt src="' + OAS_url + 'adstream_mjx.ads/' + OAS_sitepage + '/1' + OAS_rns + '@' + OAS_listpos + '?' + OAS_query + '"><\/script>'); } function OAS_AD(pos) { if (true) { if (typeof(OAS_RICH) !== 'undefined' && OAS_version >= 11) { OAS_RICH(pos); } else { OAS_NORMAL(pos); } } } //]]> </script>  <div id="ad-temp-Top"> <script> //<![CDATA[ jQ('#ad-placeholder-Top').writeCapture().replaceWith('<script>OAS_AD("Top")<' + '/script>'); //]]> </script> </div> <script> jQ('#ad-temp-Top').hide(); </script> <div id="ad-temp-Middle2"> <script> //<![CDATA[ jQ('#ad-placeholder-Middle2').writeCapture().replaceWith('<script>OAS_AD("Middle2")<' + '/script>'); //]]> </script> </div> <script> jQ('#ad-temp-Middle2').hide(); </script> <div id="ad-temp-Right1"> <script> //<![CDATA[ jQ('#ad-placeholder-Right1').writeCapture().replaceWith('<script>OAS_AD("Right1")<' + '/script>'); //]]> </script> </div> <script> jQ('#ad-temp-Right1').hide(); </script> <div id="ad-temp-x31"> <script> //<![CDATA[ jQ('#ad-placeholder-x31').writeCapture().replaceWith('<script>OAS_AD("x31")<' + '/script>'); //]]> </script> </div> <script> jQ('#ad-temp-x31').hide(); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ensurePackage('guardian.r2.omniture'); guardian.r2.omniture.trackComponents = true; </script> <span id="Panel_Content" class="initially-off"></span> <script type="text/javascript"> // <![CDATA[ if(true) { var OAS_taxonomy='&Paneled_Site=guardian.co.uk&Paneled_Section=science'; jQ(document).ready(function(){ jQ.getScript('http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.guim.co.uk/static/5e8a33fc00d9d9e6d2e5ca71dd905bae18283811/common/scripts/kantarmedia.js'); }); } // ]]> </script> <script> if(true) { jQ(function() { if ('undefined' !== typeof MatchingEngine) { MatchingEngine.logEvent('article', 'id=http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/19/science-scepticism-usdomesticpolicy'); } }); } </script> <script type="text/javascript"> if (true) { var _sf_async_config = {}; /** CONFIGURATION START **/ _sf_async_config.uid = 30676; _sf_async_config.domain = document.domain; _sf_async_config.sections = 'Science'; _sf_async_config.authors = 'Robin McKie'; _sf_async_config.useCanonical = true; /** CONFIGURATION END **/ (function() { function loadChartbeat() { window._sf_endpt = (new Date()).getTime(); var e = document.createElement('script'); e.setAttribute('language', 'javascript'); e.setAttribute('type', 'text/javascript'); e.setAttribute('src', (('https:' == document.location.protocol) ? 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/https://a248.e.akamai.net/chartbeat.download.akamai.com/102508/' : 'http://web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://static.chartbeat.com/') + 'js/chartbeat.js'); document.body.appendChild(e); } var oldonload = window.onload; window.onload = (typeof window.onload != 'function') ? loadChartbeat : function() { oldonload(); loadChartbeat(); }; })(); } </script>   <span id="n-analytics-placeholder"></span> <script type="text/javascript"> if (true) { jQ(document).ready( function(){ var script = "<scr" + "ipt type='text/javascript' src='//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213/http://secure-uk.imrworldwide.com/v60.js'><" + "/script>"; script += "\n<sc" + "ript type='text/javascript'" + ">"; script += "\nvar pvar = { cid: 'uk-305078h', content: '0', server: 'secure-uk' };"; script += "\nvar feat = { landing_page: 0 };"; script += "\nvar trac = nol_t(pvar, feat);"; script += "\ntrac.record().post();"; script += "\n<" + "/script>"; jQ("#n-analytics-placeholder").writeCapture().replaceWith(script); } ); } </script> <noscript> <div> <img src="//web.archive.org/web/20120226043213im_/http://secure-uk.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?ci=uk-305078h&cg=0&cc=1&ts=noscript" width="1" height="1" alt=""/> </div> </noscript>  </body> </html>

CINXE.COM

Attacks paid for by big business are 'driving science into a dark era' | Science | The Observer