08/20/06
 01:22:42 am, Categories: Voices, 2143 words
Back to The Monarchy
Norla Antinoro

The depth of suffering brought to the world by the administration of G. W.
Bush is not exactly unprecedented. Others have been as foolish and short
sighted in positions of power, but rarely in the free world since the
nineteenth century. The effects that Bush's policies have had on scientific
investigation and the growth of human knowledge is devastating.
Science has always been an amazing thing to me. It is based, ultimately, on
the human need to know, on curiosity. Every time we sat down to write
another grant proposal or hosted a visiting grant agency rep, we were faced
with the hard question of why these people should give us any money to
continue our research. We had to demonstrate that the work would benefit the
people who had the money or expand the limits of human knowledge. It was the
time of year when scientists had to remove their heads from that fascination
with the work itself and look at the legitimate question of why anyone
should give them money to pursue it.
Centuries ago research was supported by private fortunes. Scientists were,
like artists, supported by patrons or by their own family money. Gradually,
governments got into the act and science exploded into a huge, rapidly
growing arena. During this time science has been used to push the boundaries
of human knowledge, to learn, to grow, to develop. More than a few times it
has, unfortunately also been used to promote the views of the patron.
For a short time between 1945 and 1999, science became a field of neutral
endeavor. Work was funded into "basic research" which has no immediate
practical application. It serves only the purpose of increasing our
knowledge in a certain field. Universities promoted basic research;
governments and private endowments funded it. To justify a project and get
it funded, a scientist simply had to convince the granting agency that their
work would add something significant to the basic understanding of an
important field. Work into areas that have practical applications had been
enthusiastically funded by a variety of private foundations and many
governments. It was only in Third World dictatorships where science was a
purely political exercise and the country's political leaders got involved
in deciding what research would be funded and not.
Shutting down certain types of research has a long history. Patrons do not
support research that disagrees with their world view. In recent decades,
however, neutral funding agencies tended to look at the worth of the science
and the credentials of the researcher to determine whether the work should
be supported or not. Certain ethical considerations were put in place
following WWII to prevent abuse of human and animal subjects by the
researchers. The ethics of science became a subject that solid graduate
programs required their students to become informed about.
This Bush world begins to look more and more like the world of Queen
Isabella. Please the ruling monarch or the Church, and your work will be
supported. Displease them, and you will be imprisoned or put to death for
your research. Even during the most restrictive administrations of the past,
solid scientific work was funded with very little regard for political
considerations. It would never have occurred to any scientist to consider
whether Carter, Clinton, Nixon or Ford approved of their work. The only
effect the president had on the research was the amount of funding given to
the agencies that supported the work. Not so in Bush World. Now this man,
whose training, such as it is, is in the law, has decided that he has not
just the power, but the right and the knowledge to decide what topics will
be researched.
In the USA topics were dismissed and restricted from scientific
investigation, before the reign of G.W. Bush, when they posed a serious
threat to the population or the environment. Research that abused its
subjects was restrained. Research with inadequate safeguards that worked on
subjects like rabies virus or atomic energy or toxins was restricted to
protect the living population. The political implications of the work were
not considered either by the scientists nor the funding agencies. This was
Science, and politics were irrelevant except as they affected the total
overall amount of funding available, Democratic administrations tending to
favor greater education and research budgets than Republican ones. The
interference has not been this specific since the era of kings and queens
ruling our land.
Two examples come to mind immediately: stem cell research and research into
the effects of depleted uranium. One has been loudly condemned and
restricted, the other quietly set aside and ignored. Never before in my 40
years experience as a scientist has such a thing been done. It was
scientists and educators who decided, in committees that were spread across
many different universities and agencies, which research would be funded and
which would not.
G.W. Bush has openly restricted work in stem cells to the cell lines that
existed when he signed the law into effect. Cell lines are not eternal. They
have a life expectancy just like people do. A cell line can double between
50 and 100 times before it becomes transformed or dies. That is part of what
makes animals die, this limit on the doubling of cells. Restricting work on
stem cells to the existing cell lines means we will lose the ability within
a few decades if the work is pursued vigorously. It also means that we are
being restricted to work on a handful of individuals. That would be very
much like basing a market survey on two dozen people you met at the baseball
game. Imagine if Bush were to put such a restriction on marketing. The
corporations would be doing underground marketing research overnight to get
around the restrictions. Of course, Bush would not restrict such work
because he would then be restricting the profit making of the corporations
that form his Base. His ruling against stem cell research was a poorly
researched, poorly thought out, purely political decision with no scientific
or medical merit.
Another field that has suffered serious limitations under the G.W. Bush
reign is research into the hazards of combat and the workplace. Protections
against hazards of the workplace have been gutted of their effectiveness
under Bush. Research into the hazards facing military personnel has been
virtually eliminated.
One of the hazards that has faced modern military and civilian personnel in
battle zones is contamination. Prior to the administration of G.W. Bush,
research into the effects of such contamination was vigorous. Around the
same time that the flag draped coffins of our young men and women were ruled
"hands off" to the press, research into battle field contamination came to a
virtual halt in this country. Veterans benefits were cut. Veterans hospitals
have been dramatically underfunded [yes, under the Bush administration,
"underfunded" has become a real word].
Prior to the administration of G.W. Bush, research into anything that
endangered our troops and support personnel in bivouac or in combat, was
energetically supported by the military and civilian funding agencies of
this country. Protecting our troops was taken seriously. Protecting the
civilian landscape was considered essential for both humanitarian and
pragmatic commercial reasons. A landscape that is destroyed as Rome sowed
the fields of Carthage with salt, produces an area that provides no succor
for the current enemy but it also provides no support for future trade once
the conflict has ended. Since WWII we have been working to develop weapons
that kill people but leave the buildings and infrastructure intact and the
land unpoisoned, so that trade can resume once conflict has stopped. It is
in the best interests of all concerned that the land where a conflict takes
place is not left like the fields of Carthage, which to this day grow
nothing of significance.
Under the Democratic administrations, research into environmental impacts of
munitions was supported well. Under previous Republican administrations,
such research was still supported. Under G.W. Bush, the research into such
impacts has all but stopped.
An interesting exercise which is bound to leave the most jaded scientist
appalled is to google the words "depleted uranium research". Examine the
resulting hits and you will find that virtually no work is being currently
supported in the United States. The effects of DU on civilians and military
personnel is not a military secret, it has been openly studied since at last
1974, so the work has no legitimate reason to be classified. We can
reasonably conclude that what shows on a public search is what is out there.
Of the google hits, most are op-ed pieces. A scant handful is actual medical
or scientific research. Since the invasion of Afghanistan, virtually no
scientific or clinical work shows up.
During the previous wars, from WWII onward, when we were engaged in combat,
research into the effects of such combat on our troops and on affected
civilians was vigorous. Even during the lull following our withdrawal from
Vietnam, such work was heavily supported by both Department of Defense and
civilian granting agencies. The justification for failing to support
research into the effects of depleted uranium and on ways to mitigate those
effects is purely political. Such a lack has no scientific or ethical
validity.
The arrogance and flagrant disregard for the welfare of the troops and their
families is without parallel. We should be working hard to figure out a way
to clean up the battle fields of the world. Instead, because we have a
president of limited intelligence and zero foresight, we are lagging behind
in our responsibilities. Work is being done in a limited way in the U.K.,
where a radioisotope lab is looking into ways to detect DU contamination. No
American labs are currently doing such research in a publicly observable
manner. I have had military personnel tell me that they believe, without any
evidence, that the military is "probably" doing such research under cover of
top secret seals. Such as hope is, I believe, without foundation. The only
reason such work would be under high security is to avoid public awareness
of the risks. The public becoming aware of the real risks posed by depleted
uranium is a hazard to the political plans of the Bush Administration and
the gang that supports them. They do not intend to simply fade into the
woodwork in 2008. They plan to try for an extension of their reign in one
way or another, most likely by simply substituting a new figurehead in place
of G.W. Bush. I am sure they are hoping for one with a bit more intelligence
or one who does not get seduced by the power of the office so much that he
starts making decisions for himself.
It is far more likely that the Bush administration is simply suppressing the
DU research, just as they suppressed significant research involving stem
cells. If there is no work being done, there can be no leaks to inflame the
public, and the apathy induced by the application of fear, bread, and
circuses can continue.
Under previous administrations, civilian and military agencies were working
hard to clean up the environment that had been contaminated by military use.
Bases were being decontaminated and further research into methods to allow
the decontamination to be more effective was being pursued. Under G.W. Bush,
since the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, existing projects have had their
funding decreased or withdrawn. Personnel are being reassigned or dismissed.
In some cases the clean ups were stopped even though the personnel were
under contract. Clean-up crews, from scientists to laborers, were paid
salaries to sit and do nothing while the clean-up projects were on hold.
The president of the United States is a civilian and rarely has a
significant scientific education, Jimmy Carter being a notable exception
with his degree in nuclear engineering. Such people employ scientific and
medical advisors to assist them in making necessary decisions regarding such
matters. Since 2000 when G.W. Bush took office we have heard very little
from the president's scientific advisors. Science and medicine have suffered
greatly under the reign of G. W. Bush. Once again, as in Queen Isabella's
day, science has become a purely political and commercial tool for the
powers that be. Investigation to benefit the people and pure research to
expand the limits of our knowledge have both been backburnered by the Bush
administration. That Bush considers vital research to be merely a tool for
his political agenda presages the beginning of another Dark Age if we do not
put a stop to his idiocy soon.
-###-
August 20, 2006 Norla Antinoro is a life long Democrat. Born in California
she spent the last 40 years in and around Tucson, Arizona and currently
resides near Buffalo, NY.

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