Politics are Shaping Science

FT.com / World - US right stymie sensitive medical research

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’.”

Almost four-fifths believed NIH funding decisions had become more political under President George W. Bush than under his predecessor Bill Clinton, and more than a third believed they were less likely to receive NIH funding as a result of the controversy.