> > The US government has plunked billions into NASA over many decades. I > recognize that this research was principally fueled by political and > military considerations but, today we enjoy an enormous array of consumer > goods whose origins came from publicly funded research (ps. lets not > forget the Internet we are using right now, and the chips inside the very > computers we use right now!). > > In the agricultural field, we can use the celebrated example of canola. > The primary world producers of rapeseed were Poland and India. Then, in > the seventies, Agriculture Canada unveiled this marvelous new crop called > Canola after years of breeding. These studies were publicly funded and > as such, Canadian farmers had ready access to this crop. Today, Canada > is the largest canola seed and oil producer in the world, which has > become a billion dollar industry. I question whether farmers > collectively (and the numerous small prairie communities they live in) > would have benefited equally when Canola would have been introduced > initially by a multinational. > > In today's environment of government cutbacks, reductions in > publicly-funded research is inevitable and also needed. The process will > hopefully identify research priorities, but I for one believe public > -funded research has its place and future. > > P. van Westendorp [log in to unmask] > Provincial Apiculturist I truley love moments like this - when truth gets in the way of opinion. Here I sit with my conservative out look on government, prattling on about how I don't want my tax dollars to be spent on areas that should be left to the private sector. And then I hear myself reviewing the statement made by someone last week about: ~when the current miticide is no longer is effective and there isn't enough money to be made to recoupe the R&D of the next generation, what justifies going any further. So who takes the responsibility to serve the public good when there is no first generation $ to be made? The implicit is that my tax dollars should be spent here. But who has the wisdom. David Crawford Pinole, Ca. [log in to unmask]