What's New: To receive these updates and announcements by email, manage your subscription, or review the mailing list archive, go to the NCSE List User Form. NCSE President Testifies Before U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works    September 28, 2005 -- NCSE President Richard Benedick testified today before a U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on the use of science in environmental decision-making. Ambassador Benedick's testimony drew upon his experience as chief U.S. negotiator for the 1987 Montreal Protocol, which regulated chemicals that were suspected, but not, at the time, incontrovertibly known, to deplete the stratospheric ozone layer.     "Nature does not," noted Ambassador Benedick, "always provide policymakers with convenient early-warning signals of impending disaster." Quoting British Lord Kennet, Ambassador Benedick contended that "Politics is the art of taking good decisions on insufficient evidence."   In testimony called "absolutely inspiring" by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Ambassador Benedick described the "remarkable collaboration between science and government to reduce risk and develop public policy" that successfully brought about the Montreal Protocol under conditions of scientific uncertainty.     Drawing the parallel to the current debate on global climate change, Ambassador Benedick contended that "By the time the evidence on such issues as ozone layer depletion and climate change is beyond dispute, the damage could be irreversible and it may be too late to avoid serious harm to human life and draconian future costs to society. Faced with global environmental threats, governments may need to act while some major questions remain unresolved. In achieving the Montreal accord, consensus was forged and decisions were made on a balancing of probabilities - and the risks of waiting for more complete evidence were finally deemed to be too great"   Under circumstances of scientific uncertainty and high risk it may be necessary, suggested Ambassador Benedick, for scientists to "interact closely with government policy makers and diplomatic negotiators," assuming "an unaccustomed shared responsibility for the policy implications of their research."   Ambassador Benedick also emphasized the importance of providing sufficient funding for all levels of science, from curiosity-driven basic research to applied engineering solutions. He pointed out that "without modern science and technology, the world would have remained unaware of an ozone problem until it was too late."  In the absence of scientific consensus, Ambassador Benedick recommended that policymakers look to convergence of opinion within scientific bodies such as the National Academies of Sciences, rather than heed voices on the extremes of the issue.     U.S. Senators in attendance included: James M. Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Christopher S. Bond (R-Missouri), George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Thune (R-South Dakota), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), James M. Jeffords (I-Vermont), Barbara Boxer (D-California), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York), and Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey).  Other witnesses who testified at the hearing included: Michael Crichton, M.D.; Dr. William Gray, Colorado State University; Donald R. Roberts, Ph.D., Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and David Sandalow, The Brookings Institution.   The full text of Ambassador Benedick's testimony is available at: www.ncseonline.org/SciencePolicy/Testimony/Benedick.doc   Dr. Crichton's testimony can be found at: www.ncseonline.org/SciencePolicy/Testimony/crichton.doc A supplementary statement submitted by Ambassador Benedick addressing criticisms by Dr. Crichton of climate-related research by Dr. Michael Mann is available at:www.ncseonline.org/SciencePolicy/Testimony/mann.doc

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