The endless fascinations of periodic tables was subjected to my musings a couple of weeks ago. The favorite at the time was a printmaking extravaganza assembled with 118 separate (and gorgeous) works of art, each representing the story of a chemical element.

Another periodic table has found its way to my conscious attention, but this one is a bit distressing. Called the A to Z Guide to Political Interference in Science, it presents examples of the best scientific advice being suppressed, misstated, or ignored. And it’s all nicely arranged into the familiar periodic-table format with catchy symbols standing for particular cases.

Element C, for example, describes how National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists were forbidden to use mainstream scientific language on climate change because of unspecified “policy implications.” Element K is the story of the Food and Drug Administration approval process for the antibacterial drug Ketek, including the point at which scientific evidence for dangerous liver toxicity was ignored.

Although this periodic table covers only episodes between 2001 and 2007, all presidential administrations and both parties in Congress have been more interested in making their case than in objectively analyzing scientific advice to form sound public policy.

When will this get better? Perhaps not until scientists grow so tired of their hard work being ignored that they stop offering elected officials and government agencies advice on technical subjects. The world will be much the poorer if we allow such a crisis to occur. 

A better solution would be to adopt the suggestion—offered last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science—to develop federal guidelines protecting scientific integrity. I’m holding my breath.