More than 60 distinguished scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, blasted the Bush administration last week for suppressing and distorting scientific information that does not support its predetermined agenda.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) submitted a data quality challenge to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on December 22, 2003, one of the few challenges submitted by a nonprofit. The request challenges the 2003 FDA Consumption Advisory for mercury.

Many recent news stories and editorial pieces from around the country are critical of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) draft bulletin on peer review, thereby maintaining pressure on the agency to either drastically alter the policy proposal or withdraw it entirely. OMB’s Data Quality Guidelines, the information policies that the peer review bulletin builds upon, received little media criticism or even attention during development. However, the peer review bulletin seems to be garnering much more interest, in part because so many scientists are rejecting this “scientific” policy.

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a lawsuit Dec. 9 against the Army Corp of Engineers alleging the Corp released a status report that violates the Data Quality Act. The Corp failed to respond to a request for correction under the Department of Defense’s data quality guidelines filed by PEER on Aug. 20.