Generally, just after the politician utters the words “I am not a scientist”, we get a big “but”, followed by the speaker rejecting something that a scientist, or any number of them have said.

“I am not a scientist”, but the theory of evolution is false

“I am not a scientist”, but climate change is a hoax.

“I am not a scientist”, but Ebola can be caught through just being in the same room with someone who has it.

“I am not scientist”, but I can reject the work of scientists because it does not agree with my preconceived ideas and what I want to believe.

“I am not a scientist”, but I will be in charge of the senate committee that deals with science.

And now, with the “I am not a scientist” declarers being in the majority in both houses in congress, science is going to take a big hit.

The GOP has already started.

In the House this week, H.R. 1422 passed 229-191. This bill will place restrictions on the Environmental Protection agency’s Advisory Board by limiting the number of scientists who can be on it, and increasing the number of industry experts who can, which is a little strange as the EPA usually protects us from the very industries that will now be able to craft the protections we need.

It was the brainchild of  Michal Burgess of Texas, a state that keeps having those embarrassing industrial accidents because no one inspects factories.

When it comes to the present structure of the board, Burgess claims it “excludes industry experts, but not officials for environmental advocacy groups”.

This is his term for scientists and those who accept their studies.

The very people whose industries cause pollution and environmental disasters will now be able to decide what will be allowed and banned when it comes to protecting the environment and what regulations need to be in place to guard against the disasters.
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While industrial people can call on their biased expertise on the board to support what they put forward, the bill forbids scientists from being part of any action that is based on their own peer reviewed scientific work.

Scientists cannot reference their own research.

But according to the Union of Concerned Scientists director Andrew A. Rosenberg, “In other words, academic scientists who know the most about a subject can’t weigh in, but experts paid by corporations who want to block regulations can.”

Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, a state that accepts science, told the bill’s sponsor on the House floor, “I get it, you don’t like science. And you don’t like science that interferes with the interests of your corporate clients. But we need science to protect public health and the environment.”

But as we too often see, it would appear the GOP in Washington has forgotten they are supposed to represent and protect the American people, and not sacrifice that to the profits of corporations.

But money talks.

Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, believes this bill and two others related to it represent “the culmination of one of the most anti-science and anti-health campaigns I’ve witnessed in my 22 years as a member of Congress.”

California Representative Mike Honda wrote a letter to the Huffington Post stating, “The bill attacks the mainstays of scientific investigation. It would strip away the EPA’s authority to make any rules due to the stringency of the data disclosure requirements. The peer review process is the foundation of science inquiry in our society, and is a trusted evaluation of scientific evidence around the world. This legislation attempts to dictate how the scientific method is employed”.

The head of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s subcommittee on the environment which authored the bill is David Schweikert, a climate change denier.

However, even as the GOP bill claims its main reason for being is to ensure that scientific reports are transparent enough to be judged by those who readily declare “I am not a scientist” because the scientists cannot be trusted and their science not believed even after extensive peer review, according to Ellen Silbergeld, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, this same stringent requirement to have their work reviewed is not required of industry.

And we know the industries that could have negative effect on the environment would never misrepresent the truth for their own advantage.

And I don’t even have to mention Senator Jim Inhofe when it comes to science and his position in Washington when it comes to it.

Science is about to become the enemy in Washington.