About this:

"I wonder where you think the money would come from if big companies didn't help fund studies. They are not evil. As a cancer survivor I see a similar response to studies by Big Pharma. Who else has the millions to fund relevant studies and I do not begrudge them a profit for their efforts."

I went to a talk by the head of the science division of the Glaxo-Wellcome Trust a few years ago.  He was speaking to us (Cornell scientists) about the politics of funding and the future of research as he saw it.  I was struck by one thing in particular that he said.  He said that no private industry is willing to spend dollars to CURE anything, or solve environmental problems.  They want to treat symptoms...because that is profitable...but not fix problems, because that dries up their clientele and thus, their sources of revenue.  So they spend their millions on developing treatments but not cures.

He said we should all vigorously support public funding for research because that is probably the only place where we actually have a "shot at a cure" for any given problem, since there is less conflict of interest where the source of funds doesn't risk a loss of profits by actually solving the problem.

Just something to think about.

Christina

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