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Related: About this forumWhat we lose when the USDA and EPA cant talk to the public
All part of Trump's "Make America Sick Again" plans... Throw shade on vaccines, eliminate health care, and clear the way for corporations to pollute our air, soil and water.
On Monday, news broke that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now barred from communicating with the public. That means no press releases, blogs, messages, or social media postings.
And early this morning, Buzzfeed revealed that The US Department of Agriculture has banned scientists and other employees in its Agricultural Research Service division from sharing the results of its taxpayer-funded research with the broader public. The ARS is the main research agency of the USDA and is tasked with finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table.
The memo outlining these new rules has not been made public, but the ban reportedly includes everything from summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets. Scientists are still able to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, but they are unable to talk about that research without prior consent from their agency.
This is not the first time that public science has been hamstrung by a gag order. To this day, the quantity of oil spewed into the ocean during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil spill remains something of a mystery. Many of the scientists who worked on the spill were hired by BP and barred from speaking on it. But gag orderswhile always troublesomehave usually been limited to one specific issue. Right now, the EPA and USDA have been forbidden to speak about all of their scientific research. It means that many of the kinds of stories we now cover will never see the light of day.
More: http://www.popsci.com/usda-epa-science-gag-order-government
And early this morning, Buzzfeed revealed that The US Department of Agriculture has banned scientists and other employees in its Agricultural Research Service division from sharing the results of its taxpayer-funded research with the broader public. The ARS is the main research agency of the USDA and is tasked with finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table.
The memo outlining these new rules has not been made public, but the ban reportedly includes everything from summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets. Scientists are still able to publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, but they are unable to talk about that research without prior consent from their agency.
This is not the first time that public science has been hamstrung by a gag order. To this day, the quantity of oil spewed into the ocean during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil spill remains something of a mystery. Many of the scientists who worked on the spill were hired by BP and barred from speaking on it. But gag orderswhile always troublesomehave usually been limited to one specific issue. Right now, the EPA and USDA have been forbidden to speak about all of their scientific research. It means that many of the kinds of stories we now cover will never see the light of day.
More: http://www.popsci.com/usda-epa-science-gag-order-government
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What we lose when the USDA and EPA cant talk to the public (Original Post)
pokerfan
Jan 2017
OP
Wounded Bear
(58,726 posts)1. How is that even legal?
Isn't 'notifying the public' part of their basic charter?
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)2. Here is another major
thing,Insider Stock Trading now that the Info flow is banned.
LastLiberal in PalmSprings
(12,600 posts)3. This is an article from "Popular Science," for chrissake
That's probably the last place you'd expect such an article. They usually stay away from such topics in favor of stuff like, "How lasers will power spacecraft," or "Geothermal energy lights entire town."