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Authored by: artp on Friday, November 02 2012 @ 06:18 PM EDT |
What to do?
Long ago, I heard from someone who was involved in the
original study of cholesterol at a local university that the
results of a study are determined by who is funding it. In
the case of cholesterol, the published results were as
expected. But we all know that if you can't get the results
you want, you keep trying until the results match what is
desired. Not a bad idea in the mechanical laboratory, but
potentially disastrous in the medical laboratory. After
all, anyone can see if a mechanical device doesn't work, but
how do you establish that a medical device doesn't work?
As an alternate remedy, I would suggest that instead of
penalizing researchers who are on the edge, ethically or
not, that perhaps the government should start funding more
of the needed research for health care -- and then keep its
fingers out of looking at the results. That would be the end
of pharmaceutical patents (Bayh-Dole notwithstanding). I do
not believe that pharma patents are needed, and I firmly
believe that the amounts of money involved are prone to
cause fraud and deceit. We still don't have proper drugs for
many modern plagues. Put research back in the university
setting, and free the researchers from satisfying the
investors.
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Userfriendly on WGA server outage:
When you're chained to an oar you don't think you should go down when the galley
sinks ?[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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