Scientists tend to complain that Congress rarely pays heed to what they have to say. But the issues are often as much about values as they are science, says David Goldston in his monthly Nature column Party of One (Nature 448, 119; 2007) .

“For many US scientists, the demise of the OTA [Office of Technlogy Assessment] has taken on inordinate symbolic significance. Scientists often suggest that in eliminating the agency, Congress chose a path of wilful ignorance that has led to poor decisions over the past decade. But has the absence of the OTA really hampered policy-making? Not particularly. Congress is awash with information provided by scientific groups, and it still formally seeks scientific guidance — particularly from the National Academies, which arguably have more prestige and credibility on Capitol Hill than the OTA had. And reports from the academies can make a difference. For example, the 2006 report on the palaeoclimate record, specifically on the ‘hockey-stick’ graph (see Nature 441, 1032–1033; 2006), helped quieten congressional debate over whether recent decades have been unusually warm.

Other reports have been equally prominent, if less decisive. The academies’ 2002 report on fuel-economy standards has become the bible on that subject, although, like the Bible, it is quoted by all sides. That’s partly because of the report itself — it concluded, for example, that the standards had cost lives in the past but that, because of new technology, they needn’t in the future — but it is also because scientific information does not usually point ineluctably to a single conclusion on policy.

Policy-making needs to be informed by both science and values. Is stem-cell research ethical? That’s not a science question, although one needs to understand the potential of stem-cell research to answer it. Should clean-air standards be strengthened? That is not a science question, but one needs to know what researchers think the health impacts of dirtier air would be."

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