Spurned Researcher Sounds off About Mixing Politics With Biomedical Science

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/471690?mpid=26198

Spurned Researcher Sounds off About Mixing Politics With Biomedical Science

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 12 - A researcher who was recently replaced on

President Bush's Council on Bioethics is now having her say about the

political distortion of biomedical science.

In an online issue of The New England Journal of Medicine released Friday,

Dr. Blackburn, a biomedical scientist at the University of

California, San Francisco, describes her experience serving on the Council,

and subsequent termination.

Her " Perspective " article will be published in the April 1st issue of the

journal.

Given the administration's well-known stance on stem cells and cloning,

Blackburn says she was initially reluctant to join the Council when offered

a position in late September 2001. But after receiving assurance from

Council chairman Leon Kass that a range of expert opinions was needed, she

accepted the offer.

One particular area of concern, during her time with the Council, was the

group's reports on stem cell research, Blackburn states. Not being a

specialist in stem-cell research, she said she educated herself by reading

published science, attending conferences, and consulting with specialists.

Blackburn says Kass repeatedly assured her that the available science about

stem cell research would be clearly represented in the Council's reports.

Yet, when the final " Report on Monitoring Stem Cell Research " came out,

Blackburn says " the best possible scientific information was not

incorporated and communicated clearly...suggesting that the presentation was

biased. "

Last month, Blackburn says she received a call from the White House and was

told that her services were no longer needed. She notes that the call came

on a Friday afternoon, perhaps to take advantage of the " weekend void " in

news coverage.

In addition to Blackburn's departure, another member, May, a medical

ethicist, left the council. According to Blackburn, both she and May voted

against a ban and a moratorium on therapeutic cloning.

Their positions were filled by three new members whose views were more in

line with those of Kass, an opponent of embryonic stem cell research, she

added.

" There is a growing sense that scientific research -- which, after all, is

defined by the quest for truth -- is being manipulated for political ends, "

Blackburn writes. " There is evidence that such manipulation is being

achieved through the stacking of the membership of advisory bodies and

through the delay and misrepresentation of their reports. "

" Scientific advice should and must be protected from the influence of

politics, " Blackburn concludes.

N Engl J Med 2004;350:1379-1380.