Hey, Hey, Let's Reopen the OTA! (with citizen input)

3:24 pm PDT, Oct 1, R. Jesse McLaren, California

10:09 am PDT, Sep 22, Cecily Bishop, Oregon

9:00 am PDT, Sep 15, Clark Craig, North Carolina
Citizens who know science could be a great source of ideas, opinions, and yes, even labor for researching specific topics on the web. We could conduct opinion polls if given lists of social cross sections, etc. I suggest forming a SCIENCE CORE, to help educate, inform and champion the application of benificial technologies and basic scientific reaerch.

2:56 pm PDT, Sep 3, Michelle Bentivegna, Connecticut
Michelle Bentivegna

3:02 pm PDT, Aug 13, Iphigenia Kerfoot, New Mexico

1:11 pm PDT, Aug 11, Steve Weatherford, Washington

8:50 am PDT, Jul 20, John Grimsley, Virginia

6:51 pm PDT, Jul 6, Chris Gandhi, California

2:18 pm PDT, Jun 27, Monisha Merchant, Colorado
The OTA will provide our Congressional leaders well-researched information and policies to create a longer-term vision of science, technology and innovation. We must keep the United States at the forefront. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see why we should restore the OTA!

12:14 pm PDT, Jun 7, Gary H.S. Strauss, North Carolina
I'm presently working on an opinion paper for President Obama's healthcare team and have suggested reopening the OTA. I found subject petition while researching current efforts to reinstate or establish improved adaptations based on OTA. I contributed to an OTA publication in 1986 when I was invited to testify concerning my work devising new methods with which to detect and prevent exposures of humans to gene-damaging and cancer-causing environmental agents. I was a very good genetic toxicologist, but was blacklisted from serving the public as a medical research scientist when I 'blew the whistle' after fifteen difficult years at US EPA. I was naive and believed that the so-called "Whistle Blower Protection Act" would live up to it's name; it did not and does not, rather it is a sardonic trap to remove well-meaning federal employees who don't aren't good 'team players'. I'm a team player, at 58yo, I still play soccer, but I don't play on a team that cheats. I was too honest to survive in a politicized atmosphere where the truth fell victim to an agenda designed to protect big business interests. I was paid to resign and keep my mouth shut (the hush money is returnable when my autobiography publishes) and became a research professor in medicine at the Duke University Cancer Center. It's always better to prevent disease but, given my situation, devising new treatments for various cancers was my next best option. Others have correctly stated that OTA was a step in the right direction, but at this point in the US healthcare crisis, we must recognize and react to the fact (see RWJF findings on subject) that the costs are growing well out of proportion while overall quality diminishes owing to the deployment of exceedingly expensive technologies that are often redundant and often no better than their predecessors. I contend this is the product of greed on the part of selfish business people (including shameless physicians) and the fact that no government agency evaluates new technologies in terms of economic risk-v-benefit combined with safety and efficacy. Sadly, FDA is both unwilling and unable to handle such issues and it, too, needs to be significantly revamped, given better support and sharpened teeth. A new OTA, possibly launched as a cabinet-level federal agency would help give our representatives the vision they need to get us out of this mess in every sector of society including healthcare, the economy, energy production, pollution control, food and water production, etc... Of course, this presupposes we elect leaders who will listen to, and obey the will of all the Citizens of this country. The election of 2009 was a good start, but we have a very long way to go if we are to put our country back on track and moving forward as our founding fathers intended. Most of our current problems have common-sense remedies, but these will never be enacted until we Citizens make the effort to support and install leaders who prove they care more about the welfare of The United States of America than about selfish attainment of power and the trappings thereof. Sincerely, Dr. Gary H.S. Strauss Chapel Hill, NC ghss@intrex.net

11:55 am PDT, Jun 5, Phillip McCart II, Missouri

3:20 am PDT, Jun 4, Donna Lanctot, Pennsylvania
For more impact, add a personal comment here

12:22 am PDT, Jun 4, Name not displayed, United Kingdom
For more impact, add a personal comment here

7:09 pm PDT, May 28, Eric Toman, Ohio

2:10 pm PDT, May 19, Name not displayed, Georgia
Once upon a time, Congress turned to the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to provide nonpartisan, smart advice on matters of science policy. You know, like, just about everything related to your future. Newt Gingrich shut it down (what were ya thinkin', Newt?). Other countries opened their own versions of the OTA but one-upped us by including real citizen involvement in science policy discussions--at the ground level. Let's rally the scientists, Congress and the citizens to support the call to reopen the OTA (with citizen input). Without citizen input, it'll be a bust.

8:31 pm PDT, May 10, Gary Miles, Missouri
The time has come for Congress to restore an independent science advisory office that can provide technical guidance to its members.

4:22 pm PDT, May 10, Denis Hayes, Washington

9:15 pm PDT, May 9, ANAND YOGENDRA, Arizona
REOPEN OTA NOW.

9:07 pm PDT, May 9, Chris Harden, California

11:31 am PDT, May 9, Name not displayed, Ohio

6:40 am PDT, May 7, Kimberly Wojteczko, Wisconsin
Please consider reopening the OTA. Especially in these current economic times when expert advice on scientific matters and technology assessment is greatly needed to help guide America and it's future in innovation.

6:08 pm PDT, May 6, Carolyn Brewster, Texas
How are our leaders to make wise decisions if they are not well-informed? Bring back the OTA, and bring back the hope for more aware, knowledgeable and prudent government.

9:55 pm PDT, May 5, Name not displayed, Illinois

6:36 am PDT, May 2, Mary Dombrowski, Pennsylvania
As a geoscientist and a supporter of good government, I can't think of anything more important than an office like this. The public participation component is key, because Congressmen and -women will need to have their feet held to the fire, best accomplished by informed voters. Thanks for all you do. Mary

9:41 pm PDT, May 1, Troy Hawkins, Virginia
The path to the brightest possible future includes uncorrupted science. Why choose another route.

5:53 pm PDT, Apr 29, Rebekkah Berg, Arizona

10:00 am PDT, Apr 28, Name not displayed, Missouri

7:50 am PDT, Apr 28, Alex Simmons, Texas

1:08 pm PDT, Apr 23, Stephanie Ormsby, Missouri

11:23 am PDT, Apr 23, Name not displayed, Missouri
This is a good idea!

10:58 pm PDT, Apr 21, Keith Parker, Australia

4:09 pm PDT, Apr 21, Derek Cooney, Iowa
we dont need to spend more money... but a bipartisan science word(with citizen input) to the president seems damned important.

1:46 pm PDT, Apr 21, Name not displayed, Kansas
Let's sponsor SCIENCE with our taxes, not superstition!

2:39 pm PDT, Apr 20, Carolynn Moore, Texas

6:48 am PDT, Apr 20, Ryan Ball, Oregon

8:05 pm PDT, Apr 19, Name not displayed, North Carolina
OTA was fun. It had frisson.

6:24 pm PDT, Apr 19, Robert Cook-Deegan, North Carolina
As both a former project director and senior associate at OTA, and even more because of my subsequent career in science, health, and policy, I truly hope Congress will restore its independent analytical source of advice on science, technology, and their impacts.

10:33 am PDT, Apr 19, Sarah Boos, California

10:00 am PDT, Apr 18, Laura Punnett, Massachusetts
Science should serve and be conducted in the public interest.

6:20 am PDT, Apr 18, Name not displayed, Ohio

12:03 pm PDT, Apr 17, George Wandling, Iowa

7:56 am PDT, Apr 17, Name not displayed, Illinois

6:35 pm PDT, Apr 16, Bradford Behr, Maryland

10:55 am PDT, Apr 16, Carina Emery, Illinois

8:10 pm PDT, Apr 15, Rebecca Sellinger, Pennsylvania

8:03 pm PDT, Apr 15, Name not displayed, Minnesota
Science is important. Science has helped us to live longer and be more productive with our time. It affects us everyday in ways that we don't realize. Please support Congressman Rush Holt and his honorable efforts to reopen the OTA. Without careful and thoughtful discourse on the subjects that affect our present and future, we are destined to repeat the errors of the past. Let's give ourselves a fighting chance for a better and brighter future.

6:12 pm PDT, Apr 15, Jesse Masterson, Florida
It's vitally important that our federal government have an impartial and non-lobby based group of people to educate them about the critical scientific matters that need to be addressed in this ever-advancing world.

3:03 pm PDT, Apr 15, Shaun Hayworth, California
Too long has science been ignored by our government.

1:00 pm PDT, Apr 15, Chris King, Texas
Please increase the role science plays in government. Non-partisan analysis should be the focus of government, not a partisan tool of the government.

11:37 am PDT, Apr 15, Dorri Neville, New Jersey

8:37 am PDT, Apr 15, Heather Howell, Illinois

10:08 pm PDT, Apr 14, Eric Ulvog, California

12:43 pm PDT, Apr 14, Jessica Straub, Canada

10:00 am PDT, Apr 14, David Ball, Maryland

1:11 am PDT, Apr 14, Jamie Lee, California

12:31 am PDT, Apr 14, Mark Love, Arkansas

10:30 pm PDT, Apr 13, Jason Arora, Maryland

1:13 pm PDT, Apr 13, Simonas Stankevicius, Ohio

11:40 am PDT, Apr 13, Michael Cilfone, Ohio
I have two small children and would like them to grow up in a country where science is held in high regard. Please help restore the US to its rightful place at the head of the scientific world.

8:34 am PDT, Apr 13, Jamie Vernon, Texas
We must ask for the highest standards of science-based policy in America.