Politics, ideology stifle progress
|
Right-wing ideological and religious views of the Bush administration seem to dictate terms when it comes to dealing with science of cloning, sexual abstinence and abortion.
|
A FEW CENTURIES ago Galileo was subjected to an inquisition for holding views that were radically different from the ones held by the church. Since the beginning of the last century the world has become very tolerant to contradicting scientific views. Yet, all is not well. What is shocking is that the land that had pioneered many a scientific breakthrough and encouraged scientific temper is coming down heavily on the scientific community. Science is being stifled. It is no fringe group that is spearheading the movement. The culprit, believe it or not, is the U.S. government.
In what may appear as an innocuous move, President Bush replaced two members of the bioethics panel set up in 2001 that advises him on issues such as cloning and stem cell research. This drew much criticism, as the two members were staunch supporters and outspoken advocates for research on human embryo cells.
To makes matters worse, these members were replaced by `ideologically' friendly members — a doctor who had called for more religion in public life; a political scientist who was against research that dismissed members were supporting; and another who had written about the immortality of abortion and the `threats of biotechnology.' And the government's response to criticism raised more questions than it answered.
"The President is trying to ensure the advice he receives is the advice he wants to hear," said Elizabeth Marincola, executive director of the American Society for Cell Biology. The Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry went a step further when he said Bush was `playing politics' with the issue of stem cell research and is `stacking' the council to better fit his right-wing ideological and religious views in the Boston Herald. Incidentally, John Kass, director of the council, has the reputation of writing prolifically about biotechnology's toll on human dignity!
It's not the first time that the White House had been criticised for meddling with science when it is not toeing its line of thinking. Last week, the Bush administration was criticised for distorting scientific findings and manipulating experts' advice to avoid information that ran counter to its political beliefs.
This time, the salvo was fired by the Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent watchdog that sent a scathing report accusing the government of allegedly stifling legitimate research and suppressing facts. Signed by many scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates, the report did not uncover new episodes of alleged tampering, but did add previously unknown details.
For instance, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) at Atlanta was pressured to end a project that found sex education programs effective even if they did not insist on advocating an `abstinence-only' message. And the report claims it replaced the CDC fact sheet detailing proper condom use with a warning emphasising condom failure rates. This is seen as a ruse to raise doubts about condoms and their (in)effectiveness in preventing the spread of HIV. The Los Angeles Times had reported how the administration had posted wrong information on the CDC web site linking abortion and breast cancer.
Participation by so many scientists to voice their concern is quite unusual, considering the fact that many of their institutions depend on federal funds. "This is absolutely unprecedented. There's something irrational about what the administration is doing," Kurt Gottfried, Chairman of the UCS Board and a retired Cornell professor was quoted to have said in the Baltimore Sun. Some feel the government's policies could drive demoralised scientists away from respected government agencies.
If certain results and findings that were not in line with its ideology or interest were distorted or suppressed, the incident in November last year directly took on researchers working in certain areas. The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) representing more than 43,000 churches in the U.S. had sent a list of National Institute of Health (NIH) funded projects in areas such as AIDS, sexuality and high-risk behaviours to the Congress for revoking funding. But why did TVC zero in on these areas? The answer is simple; TVC objects to homosexuality, all forms of abortion and all contraceptive interventions. It objects to sex outside marriage and hence its effort to revoke funding for any project that attempted to mitigate health problems outside marriage other than abstinence.
The action by TVC with a strong religious bend had sent shivers down many a scientist spine. And with it came resentment and anger — how can TVC with its own bias question and initiate investigations on projects that are funded after passing the litmus test of peer-reviewing?
Solution not in abstinence
If TVC was against any form contraceptive interventions, the Bush government is not far away.
Early this year, the President had called for an increase in federal funds to $270 million in 2005 for abstinence programs to fight sexually transmitted diseases. On the face of it this budget hike seems very encouraging considering that nearly three million teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases every year.
"Abstinence for young people," he declared, "is a certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases." Of course, abstinence before marriage and monogamy after marriage are ideal. But it's time Bush accepted reality and stopped living in a utopian world. Abstinence is just a part of the equation; condoms and safe sex education complete the picture. According to reports in The Washington Post, there is no federally funded programme in the U.S. for comprehensive sex education that teaches abstinence and contraception.
The business of cloning
The situation gets a lot murkier when the subject in question is cloning. While the President wants a total ban on cloning — therapeutic and reproductive, not everyone endorses his view. A sweeping prohibition passed by the House to this effect in 2002 still remains deadlocked in the Senate.
As if its efforts to stifle science in the U.S. were not enough, the U.S. went a step further and wanted every country to fall in line and ban all forms of cloning. And what better way to implement this than approach the United Nations.
But the resolution proposed by Costa Rica and backed by the U.S. and 39 other nations met with stiff resistance. All nations and scientific academies are against reproductive cloning. Already, 30 countries have banned reproductive cloning. The UN would take up the issue after one year.
A shrill battle cry for a total ban has once again been renewed with the South Korean researchers successfully cloning embryos and extracting stem cells from it. Against this backdrop, it remains to be seen if the government will be able to muscle its way through with the bill. For the U.S. scientists, the Korean success has been very frustrating. The President's policy of August 9, 2001 limits federal funding for stem cell research only to embryonic stem cell lines created on or before that date.
Circumventing legislation
But some states are finding a way to circumvent this limitation. The New Jersey Governor recently announced a budget proposal of $6.5 million to create a stem cell research institute in the state. Apart from the state grant, public funding to the tune of $3.5 million is also expected. The research will strictly stick to therapeutic cloning.
With this, New Jersey becomes the second state after California to officially encourage embryonic stem cell research. Last month, California passed legislation, first in the country, to support stem cell research.
A coalition of wealthy patients advocates, scientists and others are behind this move.
The initial amount of $0.5 million was provided by a father of a son who is suffering from Type - I diabetes. And these initiatives come in the wake of other states banning all forms of cloning.
The California and New Jersey movements come in the wake of realisation that failure to pursue stem cell research will drive breakthroughs and some of the best scientists to other countries.
It is high time the U.S. government realised this simple truth and stopped messing up with science. Ethics is important; but science cannot be dictated by religious values alone.
R. Prasad
in Chennai
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Sci Tech
