Much has been made about the revolt of the generals. In a similarly charged vein, there has been developing a revolt of scientists as well. Here is something I thought I would never see--the following is a lead editorial published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, one of the top-tier biomedical journals:
"Rescuing the NIH Before It is Too Late" by Andrew R. Marks, Editor-in-Chief
In the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski the hero, who calls himself "The Dude," has just had his apartment broken into by some dumb thugs. One of the thugs lifts the Dude's prized bowling ball and says, "What . . . is this?" The Dude replies, "Obviously you are not a golfer." The current state of the NIH prompts me to say to its director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, "Obviously you are not a scientist."
Wow. Ouch.
Marks goes on to say:
Dr. Zerhouni's apparent lack of understanding of how science is done is compounded by the utter lack of support for biomedical science from the White House and Congress. Neither Democrats nor Republicans appear to understand the key role of science in the nation's health, welfare, and economy. The White House under George W. Bush is targeting the NIH for destruction.
This may not seem vitriolic compared to the usual bloggers' fare, but to write a major editorial like this in a major scientific journal is unheard of. You should read the whole piece, it is quite short but important. Marks is a level-headed, hardly-emotional, cardiovascular research scientist who is respected for his work in heart muscle signaling and physiology. His editorial follows on from a cri-de-couer by the Nobel Laureate, Rockefeller University President and cell cycle guru Paul Nurse who wrote a similarly bleak and damning editorial in the journal Cell (subscription), entitled "US Biomedical Research Under Siege"
So what is going on here? To have major scientific leaders writing with scorn about the government that supports them is gobsmacking. Scientists, like most academics, tend to lean a little to the left but not markedly so. I'm not surprised when I see pictures of Ronald Reagan in the offices of some of my colleagues. In any case, politics among scientists is something you do when you go home, it is not part of your everyday work life. What is happening here, however, is a major reorientation and politicization of a profession that was previously anything but political.
As scientists, we are clueless as to why this administration has declared war on us. The current situation is just plain weird. We didn't see it coming and there was no reason to think that we would be any more of a threat to the current Republican Party than to any previous administration--Democratic or Republican. As I described in a previous diary, however, individual scientists have been jailed to make examples of them by this administration. This follows on top of bewilderingly long and familiar list of bizarre science policies that include climate change, stem cell research, abstinence education, etc. I don't know of any scientist who predicted the animosity that the current Republican party has shown towards science and scientists. It doesn't make sense. As Marks' article alludes, the Bush administration has moved from neglect to contempt for science in the United States. But scientists are starting to fight back.
The Bush Administration has been so wholly incompetant at setting scientific priorities, administering the scientific agenda and maintaining resources for science research that they have knocked the foundations out of the American scientific enterprise. The house is still standing but it won't be for much longer. Science is quintessentially a meritocracy, but the Bush White House has thrown out all of the rules on science in the US. Key science appointees, such as FDA commissioner and former NCI director Von Essenbach, have been made because they are friends of the Bush family. Politically expedient appointees like Gerberding at the CDC have ravaged major scientific institutions in the US. Regardless of what you do or who you are, progress in science research over the past 50 years has been important to you, to your family and to your society. But the Bush administration seems determined to change all that. For the worse.
Despite my loathing for this administration, politicization of science is a very bad thing. Eventually, Bush and his cronies will be gone. In the long run, it will only diminish our reputation for independence and objectivity. Sadly, seven years of damage to American science under this administration will have a lasting impact on our society for decades into the future.