Ozone Action, Inc.            PRESS RELEASE
1621 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20009

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Susan Pollack (202) 265-6738
June 29, 1994

RUSH LIMBAUGH AWARDED FLAT EARTH AWARD FOR BAD SCIENCE

Washington, D.C. - Today, Ozone Action awarded author and talk
show host Rush Limbaugh the first Flat Earth Award for promoting
the worst science since people thought the earth was flat.
Although Limbaugh qualified in a wide range of areas, his
statements about stratospheric ozone depletion, one of the most
serious environmental threats to life on the planet, won him this
award.

Limbaugh has gained notoriety for effectively misleading the
public on environmental issues. He takes the uncertainty that is
inherent in the natural sciences and uses it to erode confidence
in environmental and health regulations.

Limbaugh became the Master Confusionist on ozone depletion with
his broad-based and unfounded attacks on "junk scientists" and
"environmentalist wackos" in his talk shows and in his recent
book, The Way Things Ought to Be.  Much of what Limbaugh says
about ozone depletion is based on information taken from the late
Dixie Lee Ray's books Trashing the Planet and Environmental
Overkill.  Her books rely heavily on articles by Rogelio A. Maduro
for her conclusions about ozone depletion. Maduro is an associate
editor of 21st Century, a magazine published by Lyndon Larouche's
organization.  Maduro is the co-author of The Holes in the Ozone
Scare which one leading atmospheric scientist described as "the
single best compilation of all the incorrect and out-of-date
information ever issued on ozone depletion."

"While people were sitting on the beach during the summer of 1993
reading Rush Limbaugh's book, they were getting burned in more
ways than one," said John W. Passacantando, Executive Director of
Ozone Action.   Passacantando added, "NASA scientists were
measuring record ozone depletion over the United States and people
were being exposed to record amounts of ultraviolet radiation,
while Limbaugh was broadcasting that the ozone scare was a hoax.
Limbaugh runs the bad science laundry machine, taking information
from the least credible sources in the country and spinning it so
that it seems like a credible alternative viewpoint.  Limbaugh
falls flat with his listeners on ozone.  Many Americans are
concerned about the higher risks associated with ozone depletion
and the National Weather Service just introduced a daily
forecasting system to warn people about their risk level of
radiation exposure from the sun."

Ozone Action is a nationwide non-profit dedicated to informing
society about the human and environmental harm caused by UV
radiation and to halting the destruction of the ozone layer
through public education and activism.
END


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