Important US research to reduce HIV infection may have been prevented in recent years because scientists have censored their funding requests in response to political controversy, according to a study published on Tuesday.
Writing in PLoS Medicine, the academic journal, Joanna Kempner from Rutgers University identified a “chilling effect” on researchers seeking grants from the government-backed National Institutes of Health after their work was questioned by Republican lawmakers and Christian groups.
The findings suggest politics influence scientists’ willingness to conduct research, and raise warnings at a time of continued sensitivity over medical research topics from sexual behaviour to stem cells.
Among 82 researchers polled by Ms Kempner, who had received money from the NIH, almost a quarter had dropped or reframed studies around sexual behaviour they judged to be politically sensitive, and four had made career changes and left academia as a result of the controversy.
Half reframed their studies to avoid work on marginalised populations, or dropped studies they thought would be politically sensitive, such as those on sexual orientation, abortion, childhood sexual abuse, and condom use. One interviewee said: “I do not study sex workers, I study ‘women at risk’.”
Translation: No research that can reveal anything worth a damn about HIV's social context and the marginalized group it disproportionately impacts. This kind of moralistic crusade against Public Health and Science broadly will have undoubtedly set back the work in prevention back at least eight years (e.g. Bush's two terms). In other words, I can't FUCKING WAIT for Barack Obama. Oy vey!
Yeah, and this doesn't even count those of us who haven't bothered to try applying because we know the political situation wouldn't permit funding anything with any potential to portray queers as anything but sick and depraved.
Not sure that Obama will be much relief on this issue - the basic policy came in under Clinton, after all.
But, we can hope. Or go one better - and demand that we get our fair share of research money.
Obama has made promises to be better about HIV -- and Michelle used to do work around the topic. So there's certainly hope that things will improve, I think. He's already promised to lift the Global Gag Rule immediately. So that's one important step. I hope that in hindsight I can call you cynical Bill :) Only time will tell!