Death by a Thousand Cuts

It is likely that you don't realize what your state and our nation have lost in economic terms and research productivity as a result of recent cuts in the federal budget and budget instability brought on by a failure of Congress to pass a budget in a timely manner. Although some members of Congress strongly support increased funding for U.S. research, others argue that the time has come for the cost of basic biomedical research to be borne by industry and philanthropy. Those who make that argument either ignore, or are unaware, that this experiment has already been tried -- unsuccessfully. Nearly 80 years ago, Louisiana Senator Joseph E. Ransdell failed at his efforts to get support for research through private and industrial resources. He instead determined that a federal agency, the National Institute of Health (NIH), was essential for supporting American biomedical research. It was clear in his day, as it is now, that basic research, which is an imperative precursor to cures for disease, was considered too risky for industry, whose primary goal is to turn research findings into potential therapies. At the NIH many things have changed over the last eight decades, including the addition of 26 more institutes and centers so that the research it supports addresses the full range of human disease; but the principle behind industry's role in research and discovery remains the same. Like many taxpayers, you may think that taxes on your hard-earned money go to Washington, D.C...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news