Democratic Presidential Candidate Clinton Promises To Protect Science From 'Political Pressure'

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 09 Oct 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Thursday during a speech at the Carnegie Institution for Science criticized the Bush administration science policy and said that as president she would protect science from "political pressure," the New York Times reports. According to Clinton, President Bush has conducted a "war on science" (Healy/Dean, New York Times, 10/5).

She also accused the Bush administration of "ignoring or manipulating science" to serve political interests. In addition, Clinton criticized a policy Bush announced in 2001 that restricted the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research as a "ban on hope."

She also said that she would seek to double the $28 billion budget for NIH over 10 years (Stearns, McClatchy/Miami Herald, 10/5). In addition, Clinton said that she would seek to reopen the Office of Technology Assessment, which closed when Congress withdrew funds for the agency in 1995, and return the office of the White House science adviser to a higher status.

"When science is politicized, it is worse than wrong," she said, adding, "It is dangerous -- dangerous for our democracy."

Republican National Committee spokesperson Danny Diaz said, "Clinton says she will bring integrity to science, but on the campaign trail she manipulates basic mathematics in her attempts to explain how she will pay for hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending" (New York Times, 10/5).

Clinton Ad Reaction
A new Clinton campaign television advertisement that portrays her as a supporter of emergency workers and volunteers who have experienced health problems from their work at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center collapse takes a "veiled swipe" at presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), the New York Daily News reports (McAuliff, New York Daily News, 10/5).

The 30-second ad, which began to air statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire on Thursday, features pictures of Clinton in a protective mask at the site of the WTC collapse as the announcer says, "She stood by ground zero workers who sacrificed their health after so many sacrificed their lives and kept standing until this administration took action" (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/4).

According to the Daily News, the ad does not specifically mention Giuliani but "slaps at the treatment rescue workers received" (New York Daily News, 10/5). The "aftermath of 9/11 has long been considered Giuliani's strength," but he "also has drawn criticism for failing to adequately safeguard the health of rescue workers," the Washington Post reports (Kurtz, "The Trail," Washington Post, 10/5).

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