Attacks on science: the risks to evidence-based policy.

As government agencies, academic centers, and researchers affiliated with them provide an increasing share of the science base for policy decisions, they are also subject to efforts to politicize or silence objective scientific research. Such actions increasingly use sophisticated and complex strategies that put evidence-based policy making at risk. To assure the appropriate use of scientific evidence and the protection of the scientists who provide it, institutions and individuals must grow more vigilant against these tactics.