Doctors for Disaster Preparedness

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness (DDP) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Tucson, Arizona.^[1] Its Facebook page states that the group "promotes homeland defense and prudent preparedness for disasters of all kinds". The group is closely affiliated with the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons, a politically conservative nonprofit association, with which it shares an address and administrative staff.^[2] It is run by Arizona physician Jane Orient.^[3]

According to Bloomberg News, the group was "founded to promote civil defense during the Cold War", and has been "transformed over the years into a forum" on "fringe-science topics" such as global warming denial.^[3] DDP was described by The Guardian as a "fringe political group" and as a "truly bizarre lobby group". It promotes the "skeptical" view that man-made global warming is not real or not an important concern.^[2] The group awards the Petr Beckmann Award, named in honor of Petr Beckmann, a libertarian electrical engineer who challenged Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. ^[4]

Affiliations

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness share the same address with the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization.^[1][2][5]

• DDP President Jane Orient is also the Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS).^[6][7]
• DDP Vice-President Arthur B. Robinson is also the President of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM).^[6][8]

Petr Beckmann Award

The Petr Beckmann Award for courage and achievement in defense of scientific truth and freedom' is awarded at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. The award is named for Petr Beckmann, an electrical engineer and libertarian who challenged Albert Einstein's theory of relativity.^[4] The Guardian described the Beckmann Award as "handed out by obscure rightwing lobbyists".^[4] The following people have received this award:

• 1995 - Jane Orient^[9]
• 1996 - Robert Jastrow^[10]
• 1997 - Sallie Baliunas^[11]
• 1998 - Arthur B. Robinson^[12]
• 2000 - S. Fred Singer^[13]
• 2003 - Sherwood B. Idso^[14]
• 2004 - Willie Soon^[15]
• 2012 - Marc Morano

Morano's selection was criticized in The Guardian, as Morano had previously republished the email address of a climate scientist who had received death threats. Morano wrote of climate scientists: "I seriously believe we should kick them while they're down. They deserve to be publicly flogged."^[4]

Annual meetings

In August 2015 the group held its 33rd annual meeting. While attacks on mainstream climate science are "a staple", the meeting provides a forum to a "broad" range of material. Presentations at the 2015 meeting included a theory about links between John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the deaths of his brother and son; a prediction that the aim of Obamacare was to cause the collapse the U.S. health-care system and a recommendation "that the audience start stockpiling medications and finding doctors who would work for cash"; a sympathetic discussion of the theory that low doses of radiation are "beneficial to human health"; and an argument that the HIV virus does not cause AIDS, but instead was invented by government scientists who wanted to cover up other health risks of “the lifestyle of homosexual men.”^[3] The meeting was covered by conservative website Breitbart.com, attended by George Gilder, and the conservative Heartland Institute sent its science director to present his plan to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency.^[3]

Political views

Regarding the controversy over the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the melt rate of Himalayan-glaciers,^[16] Doctors for Disaster Preparedness President Jane Orient said: "The data, all the data, needs to come to light, ...Thousands of scientists are capable of assessing it. The only reason to keep it hidden, locked in the clutches of the elite few, is that it decisively disproves their computer models and shows that their draconian emission controls are based on nothing except a lust for power, control and profit."^[17]

After the nuclear accident at Fukushima, DDP President Jane Orient argued that concerns about the disaster were exaggerated and the accident should not deter the United State from using nuclear power.^[18]

Orient supports the building of civil defense shelters in case of a terrorist attack.^[19] After a reported increase in fallout-shelter construction since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, she was quoted as saying, "They're treating me less like a crazy woman than they did before."^[20]

In December 2015, Orient posted an article about the San Bernardino killings that month, suggesting that the government failed to stop the attacks.”^[3][21]

Funding

Computer scientist and hedge fund manager Robert Mercer has been a donor to DDP.^[3]

See also

• Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS)
• Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM)

References

External links

• Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Homepage
• Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Newsletter
• Doctors for Disaster Preparedness Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (OISM) webpage