

By Anne Polansky
Senior Climate Policy Analyst
We recently wrote about the plight of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Climate and Health Program and the political persecution of its former chief, epidemiologist Dr. George Luber. This courageous truth-teller is now fighting back by waging a spirited legal battle and media campaign with the help of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a team of specialists here at Government Accountability Project. Several key developments have occurred over the past two months.

On the legal front, the CDC issued a harsh 120-day suspension proposal to Dr. Luber on July 3, replete with unsubstantiated allegations to which PEER filed a formal response; on August 16, PEER attorney Kevin Bell submitted a 34-page complaint on behalf of Dr. Luber to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) seeking whistleblower protection. Government Accountability Project attorneys are submitting Freedom of Information Act requests and preparing an amicus brief in support of the OSC petition. A flurry of media coverage began with a late-breaking news alert of the upcoming whistleblower filing by E&E News on August 13, followed by deeper analysis the next day by Timothy Gardner at Thomson Reuters; the story was then picked up by CNBC, Yahoo News, Science Magazine, and a few international outlets.
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