Former official claims testimony changed

WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official says Vice President Dick Cheney's office censored global warming references in congressional testimony.

Former EPA Deputy Associate Administrator Jason Burnett said someone from Cheney's office deleted six pages of planned testimony from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Julie Gerberding's prepared remarks last year before a congressional panel, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The remarks dealt with global warming and Gerberding was planning on testifying that the CDC considered climate change to be a health threat. But Burnett said Gerberding was prevented from doing so, the newspaper said.

"The Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Vice President were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony," Burnett wrote in response to an inquiry from the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "CEQ requested that I work with CDC to remove from the testimony any discussion of the human health consequences of climate change."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto told the Post, "There's absolutely nothing unusual here in terms of the inter-agency review process, whether it's testimony, rules or anything else."