ENVIRONMENT -- "POLITICS TRUMPS SCIENCE": If this administration has its
way, scientists themselves will soon be in danger of becoming an
endangered species. According to survey findings released by the
nonpartisan Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER), " political intervention to alter
scientific results
(http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release.cfm?newsID=459) has become
pervasive within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS)." In fact,
71 percent of the USFWS scientists who responded to the survey "said the
agency cannot be trusted
(http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...ish-game_x.htm) to
save endangered species." The survey also found that over half of
respondents could cite an incident in which "businesses used political
influence to have science findings reversed or withdrawn." The Interior
Department denied the study's findings but just earlier this month a
federal judge ruled (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6895480/) that "the
Bush Administration violated the Endangered Species Act."