The Institute tried the Intersalt authors one more time and received a response from their attorneys rejecting the request. Those data, alone, however, were enough to expose the house of cards crafted by the Intersalt statisticians who had access to the full data tapes. Finally, with Congress's help, we had some relief on examining raw data to determine if the science was accurate and the interpretations did indeed reflect what the data reveals. Thousands of federal policies and positions continue to be used to justify policy without recourse to scientific scrutiny. Your science, if used for policy purposes, will be examined by peers who take time to ask the necessary detailed questions.
Scientific data are our best understanding of truth.
They are the best hope for solid public policy. The new expansion of FOIA does exactly that for any data produced under a federal grant after Nov. 7, 1999. The public has a right to the data which their taxpayer dollars helped produce. Your help and support for implementing this important OMB reg and refining it to include retroactive application will lead to stronger science and solid public policy.