White House Slashed CDC Warming Report

Administration Denies It 'Watered Down' Director's Congressional Testimony

(AP)  The White House significantly edited testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on the impact of climate change on health, deleting key portions citing diseases that could flourish in a warmer climate, documents obtained by The Associated Press showed Wednesday.

The White House on Wednesday denied that it had "watered down" the congressional testimony that Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had given the day before to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

But a draft of the testimony submitted for White House review shows that six pages of details about specific disease and other health problems that might flourish if the Earth warms were not delivered at the hearing.

The draft noted that "scientific evidence supports the view that the earth's climate is changing" and that many groups are working to address climate change. "Despite this extensive activity, the public health effects of climate change remain largely unaddressed. CDC considers climate change a serious public health concern," the draft declares.

That paragraph was not in Gerberding's text as approved by the White House.

The draft document was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press from a source other than the CDC, the Atlanta-based agency considered the government's premier disease tracking and monitoring agency.

Two sources familiar with the documents told the AP on Tuesday, after the Senate hearing, that the White House Office of Management and Budget edited the CDC director's congressional testimony, removing specific scientific references to potential health risks.

Gerberding told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that climate change "is anticipated to have a broad range of impacts on the health of Americans."

But her prepared testimony was devoted almost entirely to the CDC's preparation, with few details on what effects climate change could have on the spread of disease. The prepared remarks covered six pages. The draft submitted for OMB was twice as long.

Referring to the draft, one CDC official familiar with both versions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the review process, said that "it was eviscerated."

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the prepared testimony went through an interagency review process and the Office of Science and Technology Policy did not believe that the science in the testimony matched the science that was in a report by the International Panel on Climate Change.

"She testified yesterday. Her spokesperson said that she was able to say everything she wanted to say," Perino said. "It was not watered down in terms of its science. It wasn't watered down in terms of the concerns that climate change raises for public health."

[endofempire]

TEOTWAWKI - The End of the World as We Know It... It has been forecast many times throughout history and it fascinates ignorant folks of all ilks for a very simple reason: We goofy humans want to know when the world will end, seemingly not realizing that, individually, our world will end when we die...
Look at all the facts (not only the quasi-facts you are being fed by CNN, CBS and NBC) and you will come to the conclusion that Global Warming is a natural event... Our world did not end during the Dust Bowl of the 30''s and we are not seeing anything remotely like it today. The world has warmed and cooled as part of a natural cycle. Google MIT and Global Warming so you can read what real scientists are saying. Look at what is happening in South America, what with 2007 being their coldest year in recent history, along with record Antarctic ice growth, and you will realize you are really only being told half of the story... The pun was intentional.
Please start conducting your own research and stop being media sheep... Remember, their stock thrives off your fear.

[adventurepa]

How many more times is this administration going to get away with stuff like this?

When are the scientists and groups going to start marching on Washington demanding change?

When is enough - Enough?

Can''t anyone stop this nazi administration?

[bareemperor]

"Erasing is much better than lying..." - Dubya Bu$h

[drummer94]

Hey SgtRDS. You were right guy. Friggin arson on the left coast. Be safe Randy.

[jowand]

This administration hates science...because it hates what it doesn''''t understand.......
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Posted by SgtRDS at 11:30 PM : Oct 24, 2007

Al Gore hates real science because it shows him to be the big money grubbing phony he is.

[jowand]

How about pushing Bush out of Air Force One over the smoke stack of a coal fired electricity plant. A plant with no pollution controls at all would be fitting.


Posted by moxford0 at 12:41 AM : Oct 25, 2007

Any coal fired generators would have been installed under your boy wonder Clinton

[moxford0]

How about pushing Bush out of Air Force One over the smoke stack of a coal fired electricity plant. A plant with no pollution controls at all would be fitting.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by jowand

Other than weak kneed passivity in the face of the real fascists, show us how any of the names you listed are responsible for the beginning of the series of crimes against humanity that you so lovingly call a war.

A list of how many dead US soldiers and Iraqi and Afghani victims resulted directly from orders that any of the people on your list gave might also help prove your point.

This is the problem with you Nazis, dead humans don''t matter, because none of yours are losing their lives for Bush''s profit. All that matters is that you get to indulge in infantile name calling to those who don''t agree with your brand of sociopathology.

[sgtrds]

And someone please tell me what Cheney would get out of war in Iran? Isn''''t he rich enough? Isn''''t Halliburton''''s profit margin high enough? How empty is Cheney''''s soul that everything he has isn''''t enough?

Posted by AaaBee at 03:47 PM : Oct 24, 2007

His soul is not empty....he does not have one......he is both a monster...and a monstrosity.....he''s not a human...he''s an "it"...a "thing"...

[formrusmcsgt]

This whole administration is about spin control.

I dont believe anything they say. They need to let their experts talk!!!

Posted by fedupwithit1 at 09:10 PM : Oct 24, 2007

Ain''t goona happen...the truth might come out.