political interference
scientificactivist | August 23, 2006Over at Retrospectacle, Shelley reports on a Forbes article detailing the impressive degree to which various billionaires are picking up the slack left in the wake of restrictive Bush Administration regulations on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. From the original article:
Since the ban, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell work has risen to all of $40 million a year, just one-fifth of the money for other kinds of stem cells and a pittance in the $20 billion research budget of the government's National Institutes of Health. But Eli Broad and a few other billionaires--some…
scientificactivist | August 1, 2006Yesterday, the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee released a report entitled Drug Classification: Making a Hash of It?, which challenges the logic behind current drug classifications in the UK, especially when tied to legal penalities. The report discusses specific cases where drugs were misclassified or their classifications were changed for political, rather than scientific, reasons. The report is particularly critical of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) for not doing enough to push for a more scientifically based drug classification system.
The…
scientificactivist | July 20, 2006From the archives:
(19 January 2006) Which of the following does not belong?
(a) abortion
(b) medical marijuana
(c) physician-assisted suicide
Although all three are contentious and litigious medical issues, the answer seems to be choice (b), medical marijuana, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On January 17, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzales v. Oregon that the U.S. Attorney General did not have the authority to criminalize the prescription of lethal doses of drugs, currently allowed under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, originally approved in 1994. The act, approved again in a…
scientificactivist | July 19, 2006After it passed in the Senate on Tuesday, Bush proved he was as stubborn as promised and vetoed HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, on Wednesday. This was another step backwards for science in the US and a clear violation of the will of the American People. What a shame.
scientificactivist | July 18, 2006As the Senate votes today on HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, this post from the archives describes how the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has negatively impacted some researchers. In light of these facts, it's hard to not support the passage of HR 810.
(25 January 2006) Embryonic stem cell research is hot right now--really hot--but it's not easy. The South Korean stem cell crisis might be a minor setback, more relevant to basic scientific ethics issues, but the Bush administration's policy toward embryonic stem cells is not trivial and has already…
scientificactivist | July 12, 2006Bush's plans to veto HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, after it is likely passed by the Senate sometime this year have generated quite a bit of notice over the last couple of days. If it were allowed to go through, the bill would effectively overturn Bush's currently standing restrictions that prevent federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Although this latest flurry of attention was sparked by Monday's report from the Denver Post that Karl Rove has reaffirmed Bush's veto plans, this is by no means a new finding, since Bush has been threatening this all along…
scientificactivist | July 8, 2006On the 29th of June, the Senate finally announced an upcoming vote on HR 810, a bill which would overturn President Bush's current prohibitions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. As I reported before, the announcement has been anticipated for some time, and many were disappointed when the one year anniversary of the passage of HR 810 in the House of Representatives (on May 24th) came and went without any progress in the Senate.
The media coverage of this event has mostly been unexceptional, not particularly good or bad, although probably overly optimistic considering the…
scientificactivist | June 14, 2006On Sunday, I wrote about the Miller Amendment to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act, an amendment that would put into law some of the most comprehensive protections against political interference to date. I noted that the amendment had been stalled by the Republican leadership but should be voted on sometime soon. Well, Michael Stebbins of Sex Drugs & DNA reports this evening that the amendment came up for a vote in the House Science Committee today and was solidly voted down by the Republican majority. In fact, while all Democrats voted for it, all Republicans…
scientificactivist | June 12, 2006Here at The Scientific Activist, we welcome criticism--intelligent criticism, that is (as opposed to unintelligible dribble like this). Besides, when it comes to boosting traffic stats, any link is a good link, so I thought I should give a shout out to some of the nice folks who linked to me over the last couple of days, even though they basically disagreed with everything I wrote.
First up is Dr. Jim Hu--a professor of biochemistry at my alma mater, Texas A&M University--who runs a blog called Blogs for Industry. Although we are at odds on pretty much any every political issue, he's…
scientificactivist | June 11, 2006The Bad Astronomy Blog reports that NASA has officially admitted that censorship did in fact take place there recently. In a letter to Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), NASA writes:
...an internal inquiry has revealed that one recent media request to interview Dr. James Hansen, of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, was inappropriately declined. This action, which was contrary to NASA policy, did not spring from any change in policy or in any way change NASA's commitment to fully and transparently communicate its findings, programs, and activities to the public. In addition, several…
scientificactivist | June 11, 2006I bring of the subject of political interference in science so much that I'm starting to sound like a broken record. By this point, it's pretty much a topic that needs no introduction around here, so we'll just dive right in.
In the ongoing struggle against political interference Michael Stebbins of Sex Drugs & DNA reports that Representative Brad Miller (D-NC) has introduced a scientific integrity amendment to HR 5450, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act, which is currently under consideration in the house. HR 5450 was introduced on May 22nd by Vernon Ehlers (R-MI…
scientificactivist | June 10, 2006I mentioned earlier this week on my old blog that White House Science Adviser John Marburger would be answering questions from the public via Newsweek, and his answers have now been posted. My reactions are mixed, although he was more open than I had expected. So, what did he say?
Well, I'll start with what he didn't say. He didn't answer any of my questions, which weren't even that hostile, so he loses points for that.
He did answer, though, several questions covering a variety of issues, from alternative fuels to space exploration, from to stem cell funding to the administration's…
scientificactivist | June 9, 2006Since they serve as the intellectual lifeblood of a democracy, universities traditionally have been given license to transcend petty political squabbles that would otherwise get in the way of their academic research. One example has been the ability of academics to conduct research in Cuba, despite the U.S.'s longstanding embargo on the country, as long as they obtain the appropriate license.
In Florida, though, where the anti-Castro sentiment runs high, the state legislature last week voted unanimously to prevent researchers from state-funded universities to travel to Cub--or any of the…
scientificactivist | June 9, 2006Welcome to the new home of The Scientific Activist, a growing source of news and commentary on science, politics, science policy, and everything in between. The Scientific Activist was first launched on January 11th, 2006, at scientificactivist.blogspot.com/, and the goals were ambitious: by providing information and insights on recent scientific developments, political issues in science, and the proper role of science in an ever-changing world, I hoped to make strides toward increasing public understanding of science, clearing up misconceptions, and opening up a dialogue on these important…