Precious Right, Necessary Responsibilities

"The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law."1 Even before we get to the lab bench, the complexities of being a researcher are daunting. In this issue of The Scientist, questions of freedom of conscience and personal rights are raised. Other topics recently addressed on our Web site or in print include the pressure to satisfy funders and the legal strictures that now apply. From where should we draw inspiration to navigate this minefield? Modifying Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen provides one possibility: Every scientist should speak, write, and print with freedom, but be responsible for abuses of this freedom. Following this maxim would require much thought and effort, both individually and collectively. One interesting development is the proposed Conscience Clause for Scientists and Engineers, described in this issue's Opinion (see The Conscience Clause: Keeping the Independent Scientist Extant). Its intention is to protect career-risking whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing. I think the Clause goes only halfway: It defends the right to speak out, but it falls short in tackling answerability; some scientists do a great deal of harm. For example, those who made erroneous claims that an MMR vaccine brings on autism should be held accountable for their actions. But the question is, by whom? I trust that the Conscience Clause is a work in progress. The preamble describing "the stranglehold the world of finance now holds on research, both academic or applied" with "often tragic outcomes" should be removed, and the invocation of the precautionary principle should be rethought. Those developing the document would welcome feedback from readers of The Scientist. Researchers working in industry may not be the ones who require protection; at least those in the tobacco industry and those who conduct research on genetically modified crops have no gripes.2 In contrast, scientists working on drug abuse research may need support. The political climate in the United States is such that it's become difficult to work on the effects of recreational drugs and virtually impossible to have a truly objective public discussion of the results. A recent stinging attack epitomizes the issue. In response to the retraction of a paper that claimed to show MDMA (Ecstasy)-mediated damage to dopaminergic neurons at recreational doses,3 prominent UK pharmacologist Leslie Iversen proclaimed, "It's an outrageous scandal. It's another example of a certain breed of scientist who appears to do research on illegal drugs mainly to show what the governments want them to show." This, despite the authors' statement that the retraction was made because certain reagents had been mislabeled, and the results could not be replicated. The consequences of Iversen's incendiary remarks remain to be seen. Clearly, neither he nor his fellow critic, Colin Blakemore, has any difficulties in speaking out, and they won't need protection: Blakemore is the newly appointed chief executive of the UK Medical Research Council (see Putting his Mind to the British Science Machine). The Conscience Clause, if it offers protection to less exalted scientists who wish to speak their minds, will be right on target. Richard Gallagher, Editor (rgallagher@the-scientist.com) References 1. Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Article 11, approved by the National Assembly of France, Aug. 26, 1789. 2. M. Fogarty, "Don't blame me, I'm the scientist," The Scientist, 17[18]:54-5, Sept. 22, 2003. 3. R. Walgate, "Retracted Ecstasy paper 'an outrageous scandal,'" available online at www.the-scientist.com/news/20030916/04 function sendData() { document.frm.pathName.value = location.pathname; result = false if (document.frm.score[0].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[1].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[2].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[3].checked) result = true; if (document.frm.score[4].checked) result = true; if (!result) alert("Please select") return result; } .myradio{background-color : #94bee5} Please indicate on a 1 - 5 scale how strongly you would recommend this article to your colleagues? Not recommended 1 2 3 4 5 Highly recommended Please register your vote

Precious Right, Necessary Responsibilities

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