Few will argue that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency or the National Academy of Sciences are infallible. Yet the democratic system our public scientific agencies operate within-one that is transparent, open to all perspectives from industry to activists to consumers alike and is accountable to the American people-continues to be the marvel of the modern world.

Contrary to the "fish tales" told this afternoon and contained in the Center for Science in the Public Interest's (CSPI) latest offering, the U.S. Tuna Foundation (USTF) is in fact a very small fish in a very large ocean, The USTF's ability to influence public policy - let alone scientific outcomes - is not any greater than the CSPI's.

It appears that the CSPI believes in the integrity of our government's scientific panels or the system itself only when they agree with an outcome. When they do not, they issue reports and try to discredit our nation's independent scientific panels. In a democratic society, that's their right, but it doesn't mean they are right.

http://www.tunafoundation.org/mediacenter/2006_releases/7_24_06.html