- The National Institute of Health (NIH) is
considered the largest research funding organization in the world, with
a 28 BILLION dollar annual budget. They support research which often leads
to developments of new therapies, drugs, diagnostic equipment and much
more. Industry funds research based on potential profits, whereas NIH funded
research is determined by the agency's internal agenda.
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- The following is extracted from
a page one article in "Nature," dated May 4, 2006. Direct
quotations are shown in double quotes. This very highly respected periodical
is read by scientists of various disciplines worldwide, with headquarters
in London, UK. It is considered an impressive accomplishment
for any scientist to have their work published in this extremely conservative,
main stream science magazine. Many consider stories printed in Nature
as though it came forth from the lips of God. Considering the due
diligence the periodical does with submitted works, they have earned this
reputation. This essay will leave out medical jargon as much as possible
to get the point across.
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- NIMH - The Mental Health Division
is one of 27 independent institutes
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- SOME ADDITIONAL NIH INFORMATION TO HELP
CLARIFY THE ORGANIZATION'S SIZE
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- * The original facility (The Warren
Grant Magnuson Clinical Center) is a 14-story building, 7 million bricks,
more than 5,000 rooms, nine miles of corridor, 2.5 million square feet,
15 outpatient clinics and a Laboratory Medicine Department housed in a
space the size of a football field. Before the Hatfield Center was opened,
the Magnuson Center housed 24 inpatient care units.
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- * The new facility, the 870,000
square foot Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, has 242 inpatient
beds and 90 day-hospital stations. Groundbreaking was in November 1997.
Dedication ceremonies were on Sept.22, 2004.
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- NIH LEADERSHIP CHANGE PROBLEMS
- The National Institutes of Health are
having problems with Elias Zerhouni at the helm. Zerhouni of course is a
Bush-appointed favorite. He hails from Algeria and is a radiologist by
training. His work as administrator at John's Hopkins University is well
known. Nature refers to the NIH as a "potentially poisoned chalice."
Such an endearing term, for an agency so revered for advancing medical
research, and providing billions in new revenue for the medical industry.
Zerhouni also is working with a project with the title "Roadmap."
(Remember the Pentagon's new roadmap? Now NIH has one, too.) The purpose
of Roadmap (which irritates people at NIH today) is to coordinate
activities among its numerous branches. Some critics complain it isn't
working, claiming it "is diverting resources and attention away from
basic scientific research."
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- Part of Roadmap is to convert basic research
into clinical practice, creating new instruments, medicines and procedures
such used in doctor's offices and hospitals. There is yet another aspect
of the organization that concerns many - managing the organization's "flat
budget." It has remained that way since 2003. The NIH budget
was doubled between 1998 and 2003. A flat budget is very curious,
considering the sharp increase in bird flu and other diseases we hear about
constantly. Well-funded biologists are now attacking Roadmap because of
it's problems. Roadmap was published in 2003 and costs 400 million annually.
It also intends to make basic molecular biology a broader initiative.
Nature feels that Zerhouni's efforts in this area "deserve support."
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- Nature also states that the biggest problem
Roadmap has isn't with scientists, but with Zerhouni's association
with Bush. Previous health secretaries made earlier efforts to centralize
the organization. One such infamous former health secretary, Tommy Thomson
gave centralization his best shot, too. However, centralization is perceived
by the scientific community as threatening independent research, and also
the credible results of research. Scientists are concerned that Zerhouni
has not defended their autonomy as well as they believe he could have. Zerhouni
also must show Congress what is being done with the doubled budget of
the agency. There is also great concern that "not enough
young scientists are winning first-time grants during the most creative
period of their careers."
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- SCANDAL PROBLEMS
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- Zerhouni's career leading NIH has not
been smooth because of a serious conflict of interest. This resulted in
"new rules governing scientists' interaction with industry." Congressional
investigators found a wealth of commercial deals, of which the "NIH
itself had no records." Today "the Bethesda campus...is not a
particularly happy place." New post-911 security measures have not
helped matters, damaging the college-like campus atmosphere. And "back-biting
is seldom far beneath the surface." Roadmap increases the director's
power in the organization. Staff and those who receive grants are not persuaded
that Zerhouni is on their side.
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- COMMENTARY
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- So what does all this mean? NIH
is yet another Bush-directed organization, micro-managed
quietly in the background. Bush installed Zerhouni who will do exactly
what he's told. And a stifling security-paranoid atmosphere that can
create a paranoid industrial intellectual property environment.
For the entire world, this will almost certainly equate to a loss of creativity
and innovation, with a subsequent loss of required medical advancements
to fight increasing diseases. The aspartame fiasco showed how one past
administration influenced the release of a toxic food additive. The
so-called Zerhouni "Roadmap" has the bad smell of yet another
Bush-control-freak plan, which even the Emperor penguins at the pole can
smell. Centralization is a fascist and communist ideal, and will do great
damage when taken too far. It's impossible to schedule productivity in
any research field - such pressures can easily produce shoddy research
results. One can only imagine how many times a week Zerhouni must
report in to his real boss Bush - who the world already knows
was self-appointed.
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- In the end, it will be the people of
the world that will suffer as emerging diseases outpace research. Scientists
in England already know that funding for research is very thin. So if the
United States doesn't fund research - who will?
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- But what is population control
all about? Keeping people sick and dying. These same people keep the
multi-billion dollar healthcare industry healthy. One doctor said it perfectly -
"a patient cured is a customer lost."
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- Ted Twietmeyer
- www.data4science.net
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