The Union of Concerned Scientists or UCS is a non-profit advocacy group of scientists and citizens based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
The following is a statement from the UCS website:
- The Union of Concerned Scientists is a nonprofit partnership of scientists and citizens combining rigorous scientific analysis, innovative policy development, and effective citizen advocacy to achieve practical environmental solutions.[1]
Some of the policies that the Union endorses include controls on pollution, reduction of nuclear weapons, a ban on weapons in space, federal regulation of biotechnology, and the protection of endangered species. The Union also encourages research on renewable energy, low-pollution vehicles, and sustainable agriculture.
The continued usage of the name "Union of Concerned Scientists" has been questioned, with critics pointing out that amending the name to, for example, "The Union of Concerned Scientists and Citizens" would more accurately reflect the current nature of the orgnanization. The name as it stands now is a holdover from the founding of the organization, when it was made up of students and faculty in science at MIT.
History
UCS was founded in 1969 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1997, the UCS circulated a petition named "A Call to Action". The petition, which called for the signing of a treaty on the Kyoto Protocol, was signed by 105 Nobel Prize-winning scientists.
In February, 2004, the Union received a good deal of attention from the mass media by publishing a report titled "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking". This report criticized the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for "politicizing" science. Some of the allegations include altering reports by the Environmental Protection Agency on global warming and choosing members of scientific advisory panels based on their political views rather than scientific experience. In July 2004, the Union released a addendum to the report in which they allege further abuses of science by the Bush administration including altering reports on West Virginia strip mining and choosing industry-friendly scientists over well-qualified nominees such as Nobel laureate Torsten Wiesel.
The Tides Foundation has funded the UCS in the past (Capital Research Centre [2]).
References
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