June 26, 2008
Rejuvenating Public Sector Science
The following is reprinted from Common Dreams.org:
by Kirsten Stade
Budding young scientists are taught that the nation's
scientific enterprise reflects an unblinkered search
for truth, conducted by dispassionate researchers
divorced from preconceived bias or monetary gain. Alas,
in the real world, far too many scientists have hired
themselves out to the highest bidders - corporate
interests that use their science-for-hire papers to
cast doubt on the facts that our planet is warming,
smoking kills, and toxic chemicals can cause birth
defects.
In recent years, these ongoing campaigns to stop
regulations that would reduce carbon emissions, clean
up our food, air and water, or control tobacco have
been joined by a war on government-funded science
itself, targeted against scientists who work to promote
public health and a cleaner environment. Budgets have
been slashed. Good scientists have been turned into
whistleblowers because their global warming reports
have been quashed, their clean air analyses ignored and
their species protection plans shelved.
In the health care arena, where skyrocketing costs are
the primary reason 50 million Americans do not have
insurance, drug and medical device companies have
staged a money-driven friendly takeover of the practice
of medicine. Physician-researchers on industry's
payroll publish papers touting the latest pills or
technologies based on flimsy or no evidence, and then
write a clinical practice guideline suggesting the new,
pricier technology ought to be used. Then some of these
very same researchers hide their conflicts of interest
when publishing in the medical literature, all to
further their and their sponsors' bottom lines.
Fortunately, the tide is beginning to turn on this
corporate-driven war on science. Laws have been
proposed that would protect government scientists who
blow the whistle. Congressional investigations have
exposed administration efforts to silence scientists
and uncovered hidden drug industry payments - such as
those to the psychiatrists who were responsible for
promoting anti-psychotic-drug use in thousands of kids.
Laws have been proposed to eliminate conflicts of
interest on federal advisory committees.
This progressive counteroffensive in the war on science
will be highlighted at the fourth national Integrity in
Science conference on July 11 in Washington, sponsored
by the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This
year's theme, 'Rejuvenating Public Sector Science,'
will illuminate a path out of the current morass. Only
by bolstering the resources available to government
agencies charged with protecting public health and the
environment and affirming their authority to do their
jobs can industry's efforts to undermine sound science
be defeated.
The conference will feature award-winning climate
scientist James Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard
Institute for Space Studies and who was the first to
focus global attention on the growing urgency of the
climate crisis when he testified before a Senate
Committee in 1988. Hansen is recognized as one of the
world's foremost authorities on the need for immediate
action to avert climate disaster, and can attest to the
powerful forces that have fought to keep his message
from reaching the public.
In addition to Hansen's talk, other panel sessions will
focus on insulating alternative energy research from
industry attacks, protecting scientist whistleblowers
from retribution, enforcing rigorous conflict of
interest disclosure policies by scientific journals,
and restoring scientific integrity to government
agencies entrusted with conservation of wildlife and
natural resources. Congressman Brad Miller, Chairman of
the Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight of the
House Committee on Science and Technology will speak on
'Preserving Scientific Integrity: The Role of
Congressional Oversight.'
The conference begins at 9:00 am on July 11, 2008 at
the Ronald Reagan International Center in Washington,
DC. Register and see the full agenda at http://cspinet.org/integrity/conflictedscience_conf.html.
Science and the rationality it brings to government
decisionmaking has a crucial role to play in solving
the climate, energy and health care crises. CSPI's
Rejuvenating Public Sector Science conference will be
of interest to anyone interested in helping to put
these issues squarely on the agenda of the next
administration.
Kirsten Stade manages the Integrity in Science Project
at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.