Urge Your Senator to Defend Scientific Integrity

Federal scientists need to be able to speak out when the air we breathe is unsafe, endangered species are threatened, or public safety is jeopardized by senior government officials who manipulate, suppress, or otherwise politicize science. But, in surveys conducted by the Union of Concerned Scientists, more than 1,100 federal government scientists reported fearing retaliation for raising these kinds of concerns.

Federal scientists have reason for their fear—current laws offer little meaningful protection to the men and women who courageously step forward and call attention to censorship or distortion of federal research and analysis.

But things can change this year. The House and Senate have passed different whistleblower protection bills that need to be reconciled into final legislation that can be passed and sent to the president. But time is running out and the Senate is dragging its heels. Please call and ask your senators to push for passage of a strong whistleblower protection bill that includes specific protections for federal scientists.

Senator Barbara Boxer can be reached at (202) 224-3553, and Senator Dianne Feinstein can be reached at (202) 224-3841.

Help UCS advocate for this critical issue by providing us with more details about your call. Click "Report Back" to visit the UCS Action Center, where you can get helpful tips for making your call and report back to us about the response you received.

 Any information you can provide on how your senator is responding to this issue will help us shape our strategy.

Sincerely,

Michael Halpern
National Field Organizer
Scientific Integrity Program