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In an October 17, 2006 analysis titled "The Science of Counting the Dead," STATS defended the epidemiological methods of the hotly debated Lancet II study on Iraqi war deaths against conservative critics. The analysis concluded that the study’s detractors, "instead of dismissing over half a million dead people as a political ploy ... ought to embrace science as opening our eyes to a tragedy whose death scale has been vastly underestimated until now." <ref>Rebecca Goldin, "[http://stats.org/stories/the_science_ct_dead_oct17_06.htm The Science of Counting the Dead]," STATS, October 17, 2006.</ref>
SW: →STATS & CMPA: - add citations re stats fellow maia szalavitz
From its inception, however, STATS has repeatedly attacked environmentalists, civil libertarians, feminists and other "liberals." The first director of STATS, [[David Murray (ONDCP)|David Murray]], was not a statistician at all. His academic training was in anthropology, but he was often described in the media as a "statistician" when he commented on various topics.
Dr. [[Rebecca Goldin]], a mathematician with a B.A. from Harvard and a Ph.D from MIT, who is on the faculty of George Mason University, is the current director of research. In an October 17, 2006 analysis titled "The Science of Counting the Dead," Goldin defended the epidemiological methods of the hotly debated Lancet II study on Iraqi war deaths against conservative critics. The analysis concluded that the study’s detractors, "instead of dismissing over half a million dead people as a political ploy ... ought to embrace science as opening our eyes to a tragedy whose death scale has been vastly underestimated until now." <ref>Rebecca Goldin, "[http://stats.org/stories/the_science_ct_dead_oct17_06.htm The Science of Counting the Dead]," STATS, October 17, 2006.</ref> STATS senior fellow Maia Szalavitz's 2006 book, "Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids" <ref> Maia Szalavitz,"Help At Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids." New York: Riverhead Books, 2006</ref> was the first book-length investigation of the billion dollar "tough love" "boot camp" business that preys on parents and teenagers. It helped spur Congressional hearings and two Government Accountability Office investigations [www.gao.gov/new.items/d08713t.pdf ] [http://www.gao.gov/htext/d08713t.html]. Szalavitz advised Rep. George Miller (D-CA)and GAO investigators before introduction of the bipartisan Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, which passed the House in the summer of 2008. [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D?d110:6358:./list/bss/d110HR.lst::|TOM:/bss/110search.html|].
In April of 2008, STATS released the results of a survey of climate scientists that showed that "Over eight out of ten American climate scientists believe that human activity contributes to global warming." The study, entitled "Climate Scientists Agree on Warming, Disagree on Dangers, and Don’t Trust the Media’s Coverage of Climate Change" was released on April 24, 2008 and was conducted in conjunction with Harris interactive. <ref>S. Robert Lichter, "[http://stats.org/stories/2008/global_warming_survey_apr23_08.html Climate Scientists Agree on Warming, Disagree on Dangers, and Don’t Trust the Media’s Coverage of Climate Change]," STATS, April 24, 2008.</ref>
==Funding==
