INFOTERRA: FW: Lomborg Rebuke
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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