US health officials cancel climate conference; don’t say why
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/us-health-officials-cancel-climate-conference-dont-say-why/2017/01/23/07709336-e1a4-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html
Source: By Mike Stobbe | AP
For Investigation: 10.3
Excerpt: NEW YORK — The government’s top public health agency has canceled a conference next month on climate change and health but isn’t saying why publicly. But a co-sponsor said he was told by the CDC that it was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration. The incoming administration did not ask or order that the meeting be canceled, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. ...the decision was “a strategic retreat,” intended to head off a possible last minute cancellation or other repercussions from Trump officials who may prove hostile to spending money on climate change science, Benjamin said Monday. ...Kristie Ebi, a professor of global health at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was invited to speak at the conference... “In the long run, climate change is affecting the health of Americans,” she said. “At some point, I hope they will go forward with the conference.” ...In 2012, Trump tweeted that the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. He later said he was joking, but during the presidential campaign referred to global warming as “a hoax.” ...Trump picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt backed away from his own past statements and said climate change is real....
Source: By Mike Stobbe | AP
For Investigation: 10.3
Excerpt: NEW YORK — The government’s top public health agency has canceled a conference next month on climate change and health but isn’t saying why publicly. But a co-sponsor said he was told by the CDC that it was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration. The incoming administration did not ask or order that the meeting be canceled, said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. ...the decision was “a strategic retreat,” intended to head off a possible last minute cancellation or other repercussions from Trump officials who may prove hostile to spending money on climate change science, Benjamin said Monday. ...Kristie Ebi, a professor of global health at the University of Washington in Seattle, who was invited to speak at the conference... “In the long run, climate change is affecting the health of Americans,” she said. “At some point, I hope they will go forward with the conference.” ...In 2012, Trump tweeted that the concept of global warming was created by the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive. He later said he was joking, but during the presidential campaign referred to global warming as “a hoax.” ...Trump picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt backed away from his own past statements and said climate change is real....