ON PAPER, the omens look good for medical research when the Bush
administration takes charge of the $20 billion budget of the National
Institutes of 91色情片, by far the biggest kitty for health research in the world.
On the campaign trail, Bush promised to increase the NIH鈥檚 budget to
$27.3 billion, twice what it was in 1998.
But Bush and the religious right of his Republican party are unlikely to
stick to the priorities of the Clinton era. The proposed relaxing of rules last
year on research into stem cells taken from human embryos will be under pressure
from Republican pro-lifers. And what of AIDS, whose sufferers many conservatives
think of as promiscuous and immoral? Will research into tropical diseases, such
as malaria and Ebola, be scaled back in favour of heart disease and
cancer鈥攖he 鈥渄iseases of the rich鈥�?
Most attention has so far focused on whether Bush will allow NIH researchers
to develop 鈥渄esigner鈥� tissue and organs from embryonic stem cells. 鈥淚n terms of
the NIH, that鈥檚 the area people are most closely watching,鈥� says Kei Koizumi,
head of the R&D Budget and Policy Program at the American Association for
the Advancement of Science in Washington DC.
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Although federally funded scientists are banned from research that would
involve the destruction of a human embryo, the NIH last year drafted compromise guidelines
(New Scientist, 2 September, p 6).
These would allow NIH researchers to work on stem cells as long as they came from a
source outside the NIH, such as private industry. 鈥淏ush has said he would seek to block such
research,鈥� says Koizumi. 鈥淭he question now is whether he鈥檒l follow through on
迟丑补迟.鈥�
Harold Varmus, whose six-year stint as director of the NIH finished in 1999,
thinks too much is being made of the stem cell controversy. Management of the
rapidly growing NIH is what matters. 鈥淭he real issue is getting solid scientific
leadership, good budgetary growth and good stewardship of huge resources,鈥� he
says.
Varmus predicts a continuation of support for the NIH from moderate
Republicans on the budget-setting committees in Congress. It was they who in
1998 advocated doubling the NIH budget within five years, a plan Bush has agreed
to stick to. 鈥淚鈥檓 guardedly optimistic,鈥� says Varmus.
He also expects these moderate voices to drown out fanatics when it comes to
ideologically sensitive areas such as AIDS. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think AIDS will take a
hit,鈥� he says. 鈥淓veryone realises it鈥檚 one of our major global health problems,
and drugs are still needed to treat it,鈥� he says.
