But that was before the politicization of science. Today, politicians pass a bill but mandate that studies be undertaken prior to implementation. The politicians are then free to act, in full confidence that any mistakes will be caught in the later policy review. However, science is poorly equipped to resolve political confusion. This reliance on science as a tool of politics now threatens science itself.
Science policy is increasingly anti-scientific.
Nonetheless, the public is frightened into the belief that thousands die every year from exposure to trace amounts of pollution. Of course, the empirical evidence for such purported deaths does not exist. People look to reality to vindicate values, not to determine them. Indeed, the very pretext for convening most such bodies is that something is wrong and government must fix it. It should be no surprise, then, that most of those who testify claim that technology is out of control, that profit-seeking men threaten the survival of the planet, etc.