Smithsonian Fudged Global Warming Facts 'for Politics'

Government scientists claim officials at the Smithsonian National Museum downplayed global warming for political reasons in a 2006 exhibit on climate change in the Arctic. The museum's director insisted statements about the "scientific uncertainty" of climate change be included in the exhibit, reports the Washington Post. The director is now a candidate to become the high-powered secretary of the Smithsonian.

A leading climate change expert at NASA said pressure to tone down the exhibit came from "the highest levels of the Smithsonian to avoid a political backlash." He said he found it "disturbing" that the focus was shifted "from scientific to political content." The director has denied any effort to deceive the public. "We would never alter an exhibition on climate change that would contradict our own knowledge," he said. (More global warming stories.)