threat to science

The CDC should be ashamed of itself this morning for succombing to political pressure and turning a scientific panel into a charade. At the 2006 National STD Prevention Conference, a panel about the potential (I'm being nice here) threat of abstinence-only programs to public health has been turned into a more "balanced" panel. The issue, however, is that those who will argue that abstinence-only programs are a threat were invited to the panel through a scientific peer review process. Those who will argue on behalf of the merits of abstinence-only (the stance favored by the White House) did not. Yet another example of the Bush Administration's disregard (and disdain) for science.