Reminds me of the Ehrlich's Brownlash. Good to see some journalists & media
continue to piblicize these issues.

Steve
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 Article written by Scott Stouder of Corvallis, Oregon; Published by the
 Corvallis Gazette-Times on Sunday, September 27, 1998.


 McCarthyism in America isn't dead, it's simply shifted to environmentalism

 That's the message in Todd Wilkinson's new book, "Science Under Siege. The
 Politician's War on Nature and Truth."

 Wilkinson says political and institutionalized efforts toward scientific
 spin-doctoring of environmental truth are taking place today via a
ruthless
 fanaticism that obfuscates the message by destroying the messenger.

 "Politics... have become the cultural filter through which (environmental)
 truth flows," Wilkinson says. "A campaign of stifling attacks on the
essence
 of scientific truth is present and thriving both within the ranks of the
 federal government, and within the ranks of natural resource agencies."

 Science Under Siege is a long overdue story of "whistleblowers" and
"combat
 biologists" who have challenged the union of "Good 'Ol Boy' agency
employees
 and politicians joined at the hip with industry.

 Every chapter is a story of an employee or biologist assigned to seek
 scientific truth, that once documented, is suppressed, attacked or
 discredited by the very agency that assigned it.

 When he first began researching the book, Wilkinson admits he was
skeptical
 about agency whistleblowers. But he changed his mind when initial
inquiries
 resulted in insinuations of reprisal from both industry and government.

 If institutions could threaten him "for merely writing," he wondered what
 they were actually doing to people as:

 Bear biologist David Mattson whose research for the National Fish and
 Wildlife Service clearly demonstrates the perils of delisting grizzlies.

 David Ross, a herpetologist whose research on frogs threatens fortunes
from
 the exploding real estate speculation and development in Utah.

 Al Espinosa, an Idaho fishery biologist whose research on cutthroat
and bull
 trout blocks the clearcut path of powerful timber interests.

 Wilkinson tells the stories of conscientious agency biologists and public
 servants who take seriously their public duties to protect the
environment
 and natural resources, but are intimidated, ostracized and discredited for
 their efforts. In doing so he uncovers a natural crisis augmented by
 institutional dogma that few Americans see, but many sense. Nobody
 epitomizes that crisis more than Jeff DeBonis, who in the late 1980's,
 stepped from the closed ranks of the Forest Service and founded Forest
 Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE), a non-profit
 organization that protects employees who report agency transgressions.

 After 12 years of working as a Timber Sale Planner and viewing landscape
 destruction caused by decades of clearcutting, road building and
 unsustainable timber cutting - and after repeated urging by superiors to
 alter environmental documents - Debonis had to admit he was no longer
 working for an agency of foresters, but an agency of de-foresters.

 "That's when I realized the system didn't work," he said. "The agency will
 only do the right thing if it's challenged in court or believes it will be
 exposed."

 Wilkinson pulls no punches. The 350 page book echoes with names. He points
 to Northwest politicians in particular who continually attempt to
circumvent
 science and twist federal laws to cut more trees. He says politicians like
 Frank Murkowski and Don Young from Alaska and Larry Craig and Helen
 Chenoweth from Idaho, "have fostered an environment of lawlessness" by
 ordering the Forest Service to continue cutting even when and where
the best
 science reveals destruction of species and ecosystems.

 Wilkinson accuses these wise-use stratiticians of rhetorically blending
 ecology and economy in a re-definition of ecosystems that are designed
more
 to enrich developers and industry than wildlife and nature. In Utah he
 points to this new order of politically defined ecosystem truth as a
direct
 result of a cozy relationship between wildlife agencies, developers and a
 coalition of western politicians called the "Cowboy Caucus."

 "What you don't understand," a biologist from Utah tells him, "is that
rural
 politicians in this state believe it is still their duty to tame the
 frontier. Manifest Destiny didn't die at the turn of the century. It
merely
 shifted from ranching to development, and woe to the environment caught
 in-between."

 Science Under Siege sends a clear message that most Americans would
rather
 not hear: That our natural world - the same pure water, diverse wildlife,
 lush forests and fertile soil that lured us to this continent, has
given us
 the world's most affluent lifestyle and made us a world power - has been
 systematically destroyed within only a few decades.

 And today's political answer to that message is to shoot the messenger.

 Like Theo Colborn's Our Stolen Future and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring,
 Todd Wilkinson's Science Under Siege will take its place on the book
shelf
 of the 20th century as one of the great wake-up calls regarding our
natural
 world. But unlike Carson and Colborn who uncover hidden attacks
against the
 structure of the natural world by deadly manufactured toxics, Science
Under
 Siege uncovers a hidden attack against nature fueled by the heady
toxics of
 politics, money and power. This is a critical book for anyone who cares
 about being involved with the future of truth and nature in the
American West.

 Science Under Siege is available from Johnson Publishing Company, 1880
 South 57th Court, Boulder, Colorado for $18. e-mail [log in to unmask]

 The End

 ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
 is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
 in receiving the included information for research and educational
 purposes. **


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