Busquin leaps to EU scientists’ defence

Date: 09/11/00

By Peter Chapman

EU RESEARCHERS should not be made scapegoats when their discoveries are used for controversial purposes such as genetically modified organisms or experiments in human cloning, Science Commissioner Philippe Busquin will warn next week.

The Belgian Commissioner fears rising public concern over the ways in which new scientific knowledge can be used will spark a backlash in member states against those who conduct the basic 'upstream' research. This work often begins years before scientists have the slightest inkling of its future implications.

The warning follows a series of confidence-shaking scares over nuclear power, mobile phones and GMOs, and concerns over the ethical implications of experiments in human cloning.

"Until now there was a sort of tacit agreement between scientists and society that said 'ok you do research and we assume that good things will result'," said a spokeswoman for the Commissioner. "This has taken a bit of a bashing after nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl and public concern over GMOs and so on. There is much more scepticism.

But it should not penalise basic research just because it may have a dangerous application in future. There should not be an emotional judgement."

In a report on 'science and society' to be discussed by the full European Commission next week, Busquin will warn that, in a worst-case scenario, halting basic research out of concern for its end-uses could prevent vital discoveries such as cures for killer diseases. "There is a risk that basic research could be hindered," said his aide. "That is dangerous. The science should not be repressed. For example, work on cloning may lead to ways of curing diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's - can we afford not to do this?"

The Commissioner acknowledges that scientists should be made to explain their work more than they had to in the days when researchers, often bankrolled by Cold War-era defence ministries, toiled in secret. But he will insist that their freedom to conduct research should not be jeopardised. "Scientists are asked to explain what they are doing much more. They should be, but they should also be free," said his aide.

The report will argue that most public scrutiny and debates about ethics should be reserved for actual applications instead of the EU research and development which led to them.

The paper, set to be discussed by Union research ministers next Thursday (16 November), will also cast doubt on the way scientific research is increasingly used by politicians to justify their actions on key issues. Busquin will warn that researchers are rarely impartial and their views can be used to give a false gloss of authority. He will argue that politicians should act as referees, balancing the often conflicting advice they get from scientists.

EU researchers should not be made scapegoats when their discoveries are used for controversial purposes such as genetically modified organisms or experiments in human cloning, warns Science Commissioner Philippe Busquin.