A new report from the Government Accountability Office notes that employees at four public health agencies claim to have observed acts of political interference but lack the means to report it, according to CNN.
The watchdog group reviewed four agencies: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).
The GAO determined, in a report released last Wednesday, that each of these agencies lack procedures that define political interference when it comes to scientific decisions. In addition, it recommends ways that any such incidents ought to be reported and dealt with.
"For example, in May 2020, a senior official from ASPR claimed HHS retaliated against him for disclosing, among other things, concerns about inappropriate political interference to make chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine available to the public as treatments for COVID-19," the report notes.
The GAO also states that it asked each agency for data regarding internal allegations of political interference from 2010 to 2021. However, "agency officials did not identify any formally reported internal allegations of political interference in scientific decision-making from 2010 to 2021, but respondents from CDC, FDA, and NIH we interviewed told us they observed but did not report such issues.”
In addition, while each of the four agencies has training for scientific integrity, only NIH informs employees about political interference during the scientific decision-making process during its training on scientific integrity.
"The absence of specific procedures may explain why the four selected agencies did not identify any formally reported internal allegations of potential political interference in scientific decision-making from 2010 through 2021," the report reads.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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