CDC Releases Great Lakes Health Report After Withholding Documents, Demoting Scientist

[hatrack]

ATLANTA - Under pressure from Congress, the government has released a controversial draft report on pollution in the Great Lakes states. The report suggests pollution in some areas is causing health problems, including cancer and premature births. The document was produced by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But CDC administrators quickly backpedaled, saying some of the science is weak, and that they released it after accusations of a cover-up.

CDC officials also said they've asked an independent scientific advisory organization - the Institute of Medicine - to review the drafts and give its own assessment of the work's quality. "We're sending it to the best scientific body in the country. They can tell us whether we were justified or not" in having misgivings about the science, said Dr. Henry Falk, who oversees CDC research on environmental health hazards.

CDC officials had been under fire from some congressmen for withholding the documents and for reassigning the scientist in charge of the project, Christopher De Rosa, to lesser duties.

EDIT

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/080312/x031225A.html