INFOTERRA: Fw: Lomborg Rebuke
***forwarded message***
> Environment and Science: Danes Rebuke a 'Skeptic'
> By ANDREW C. REVKIN
>
> A branch of the Danish Research Agency has concluded that Prof. Bjorn
> Lomborg, an author whose upbeat analysis of environmental trends has
> been embraced by conservatives, displayed "scientific dishonesty" in his
> popular book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist."
>
> Professor Lomborg, who has a doctorate in political science and teaches
> statistics at the University of Aarhus, has portrayed the book as an
> unbiased scientific refutation of dire pronouncements by environmental
> groups. But it has been attacked as deeply flawed by many environmental
> scientists since its publication in English in 2001 by Cambridge
> University Press.
>
> Many experts have said that environmental conditions, in most cases, are
> not nearly as good as Professor Lomborg portrays them, but also not
> nearly as bad as some environmental groups and scientists have said.
>
> The Danish Committees on Scientific Dishonesty, after a six-month review
> following several complaints filed by scientists, issued a 17-page
> report yesterday concluding that the book displayed "systematic
> one-sidedness."
>
> "Objectively speaking," the committees found, "the publication of the
> work under consideration is deemed to fall within the concept of
> scientific dishonesty," as defined by Danish rules for scientific
integrity.
>
> But because Dr. Lomborg was not found grossly negligent, he could not be
> found formally to have been scientifically dishonest, the report said.
>
> The committee said it found no evidence that Professor Lomborg
> deliberately tried to mislead readers, which would have been a graver
> issue, and settled on a relatively mild rebuke, concluding, "The
> publication is deemed clearly contrary to the standards of good
> scientific practice."
>
> more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/08/international/europe/08SKEP.html
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