The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is under fire this week, amid whistleblower allegations of attempting to silence federal scientists within matters pertaining to the agency's integrity guidelines.
Earlier this month, the OSTP issued a model scientific integrity policy — an initiative which includes a section which discourages contentious scientists "from making or publishing statements that could be construed as being judgments of, or recommendations on" federal policies, short of prior authorization.
The Agriculture Department instituted a similarly worded integrity policy, dissuading scientists from making policy judgments that might run contrary to the agency's agenda.
This prompted the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a watchdog and advocacy group, to publicly characterize the Biden administration's integrity provisions as a "gag rule."
"Any time a scientist wrote something that had any policy implications, it could be suppressed, which runs counter to the whole idea of a scientific integrity policy," said Jeff Ruch, the PEER group's Pacific director.
The industry whistleblower then reasoned that restricting federal scientists from commenting on policy runs opposite to the true meaning of having an agency-wide integrity policy. In America, freedom of expression should be embraced in the scientific community, added Ruch.
The OSTP offered a counter statement to PEER's integrity-based allegations, claiming "there is...
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