"World’s researchers to Canada: Stop censoring science!"

[applegrove]

World’s researchers to Canada: Stop censoring science!

by Lindsay Abrams at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/21/worlds_researchers_to_canada_stop_censoring_science/

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The state of science in Canada is in a bad way and getting worse. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, media censorship of scientists has reached Orwellian levels, when they’re allowed to work at all — funding for even basic research programs has simultaneously been going through significant cuts.

The official animus toward science is so extreme that, in one case, a government scientist reported needing permission just to tweet a basic fact about climate change-related ice melt — a strategy characterized by opponents as “suppression through bureaucracy.” In other, more overt cases of censorship, hundreds of government scientists say they’ve been asked to “exclude or alter information for non-scientific reasons” in their work. A large survey commissioned by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (which represents more than 15,000 government scientists), meanwhile, found that an overwhelming majority of federal government scientists don’t feel they’re able to speak freely with the media about their work, even in cases where they feel a departmental decision “could harm public health, safety or the environment.” Last September, protests erupted in 16 cities over researchers’ frustration over being silenced.

Now, scientists from around the world are speaking out in defense of their Canadian colleagues: An open letter from the Union of Concerned Scientists calls out the Harper administration for the “excessive and growing restrictions” being placed on scientists’ ability to publish and publicly communicate federally funded work, along with the “dramatic defunding” of government science programs in general.

“Canada’s leadership in basic research, environmental, health, and other public science is in jeopardy,” the letter, addressed to Harper, reads. “We urge you to restore government science funding and the freedom and opportunities to communicate these findings internationally. ”




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[BlueJazz]

1. Other countries should start offering them good jobs with the ability to invent and prosper.