It may be small comfort for the scientifically minded among our blog readers to know that the U.S. is not the only country where science is optional. Italy seems to be strong in that department. From the LA Times:
On April 6, 2009, a 6.3 earthquake struck the Italian city of
L’Aquila. The quake damaged thousands of medieval-era buildings and
killed 309 people. Those deaths prompted Italian prosecutors to charge six seismologists
and a government official with manslaughter on the grounds that they
gave "inexact, incomplete and contradictory information" about the
mortal risks a quake in the area would pose. The idea that scientists
could be held responsible for failing to predict the deadly earthquake
was considered laughable – until a court found them guilty. It’s been nearly a year since those verdicts were handed down, and
one of the scientists is still arguing his case – this time in a letter
published this week in the journal Science...
“I have been sentenced to 6 years of imprisonment for failing to give
adequate advance warning to the population of L’Aquila, a city in the
Abruzzo region of Italy, about the risk of the 6 April 2009 earthquake
that led to 309 deaths,” begins Enzo Boschi, who headed Italy’s National
Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology and was a member of the Major
Risks Commission at the time of the quake. “I have been found guilty
despite the illogical charges and accusations that set dangerous
precedents for the future of the scientific process.”...
Full story at http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-italy-earthquake-forecast-prison-20130926,0,6239513.story
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