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We're waiting, Mr President
A US government report on a pressing environmental issue is edited to falsely imply that scientists had peer-reviewed and supported the central policy recommendation. Almost 1 in 4 government scientists working on food safety say they have been asked by their bosses to exclude or alter technical information in scientific documents during the past year.

These incidents sound as if they come from the dark days of George W. Bush's presidency, when complaints about political interference in government science reached a crescendo. But in fact, both refer to the behaviour of the current US administration, led by a president who famously promised to "restore science to its rightful place" in his inauguration speech of January 2009....

...While some other constituencies are deserting him, Obama largely still has the support of the scientific community. He is seen as a friend of science, who with his allies in Congress ensured that a generous dollop of stimulus spending was devoted to research....