Science Panel Coerced Into Including Supporters of Abstinence-Only Sex Ed

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Conservative politics and science are at loggerheads once again, according to the Seattle Times: Indiana Republican Congressman Mark Souder objected that a scientific panel at the Centers' for Disease Control National STD Prevention Conference did not have advocates for abstinence only education on it. The Seattle Times reports:

Researchers organizing a federal panel on sexually transmitted disease say an agency allowed a conservative congressman to include two abstinence-only proponents, bypassing the scientific-approval process.

Indiana Rep. Mark Souder, a Republican who chairs the House subcommittee on drug policy, questioned the balance of the original panel, which focused on the failure of abstinence-until-marriage programs.

In an e-mail to Health and Human Services officials, his office asked if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was "clear about the controversial nature of this session and its obvious anti-abstinence objective?"

So the CDC duly rolled over and invited two abstinence-only advocates to participate and the Feds even paid their way while other panelists had to cover their own expenses.

The Seattle Times quotes William Smith, director for public policy for the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. as asking, "We've spent $1.2 billion over a 25-year period on abstinence-only programs. Shouldn't we have one study that shows that they work?"

That's a very good question.

Whole thing here.