the war on Science

by Shawn Lawrence Otto

In an age when most major public-policy challenges revolve around science, fewer than 1 percent of US congresspersons have professional backgrounds in it. The membership of the 114th Congress, which ran from January 2015 to January 2017, included just three scientists: one physicist, one chemist, and one microbiologist. If one counts the eight engineers, it’s a total of eleven out of 535 members, or 2 percent. Similarly low ratios are present in Canada’s parliament, where the combined number is about 4 percent; Australia’s, where it’s 4 percent; and in many of the world’s other major governments. In contrast, how many representatives and senators might one suppose have law degrees—and often avoided college science classes in favor one of the top four prelaw majors: business, English, history, and political science? In the United States, it’s 213, or roughly 40 percent. So it’s little wonder we see more rhetoric than facts in global policymaking.