More Evidence That “Science” is Mutating Into a Special Interest

This important study supports my hypothesis that science is being corrupted by the money imperative, and indeed, is becoming akin to any other special interest feeding at the government trough. Society looks to scientists to provide dispassionate, objective information so that proper public policies can be crafted. Journal articles are an important part of this, since this is a primary way in which scientists communicate with each other, and by extension, the rest of us.

But it turns out that according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, about one-fifth of scientists who have helped write scientific reports for the National Academies had “direct financial ties to companies or industry groups with a direct stake in the outcome of the study.” The report does not criticize the quality of the reports but worries rightly that these alleged conflicts could skew the findings—which are particularly important in the Academies’ publications since they supposedly represent the scientific consensus.

I will add another issue that may be beyond measuring in studies such as this. Science has become ideological, at least at the level of leadership and among the “advocates.” And this ideology is pressed against heterodox thinkers who worry that speaking out against the mainstream view could ruin their careers. Yet, media continues to present the opinions of these activists as if they were dispassionate and objective. We see this in the fields in which I contend, particularly cloning and ESCR. But others tell me that ideology also skews issues ranging from global warming to AIDS. If indeed these issues are distorted in the outrageous ways I have seen in the biotech controversies—I emphasize that I do not know if this is happening—it is an ugly situation, indeed.