This post is going to be a lot of venting so I apologize in
advance. However, part of science is
anger – full-fledged, I want to throw something against the wall (or kick a trashcan
across the room) seething rage.
Mine has been building up for close to two years and there are days when
I feel like I can’t take it much longer.
Lucky you gets to read it, but at least you can read it knowing that I
am not the only scientist with these thoughts or rages. At one point or another, all professionals
reach a point where life has handed them too much.
I read
a lot of message boards about various life topics. I enjoy being able to escape science every
now and then because, let’s be honest, when your experiments aren’t working,
you are about two inches away from jumping off a cliff. Recently, I’ve been reading my fair share of
pregnancy and marriage boards because that’s the state of life I’m currently
living. It’s interesting to hear from
real people about what happens next.
Unfortunately for me, I’ve read too many vaccine debate threads recently. They make me want to tear my hair out. It’s no one’s fault, of course – the internet
is littered with horrible websites expounding ideas that are entirely
false. And then, in this
celebrity-obsessed culture, we have Jenny McCarthy spewing some of the most
inaccurate theories ever that some people are more than willing to lap up, so I
want to throttle her. Plus, we have the
media who finds a story and holds onto it obsessively like a dog that has gotten
his very first treat. One paper linked
vaccines to autism; tens of papers have since refuted it and all but one of the authors on the original paper has recanted. Yet, the “debate”
rages on.
Today, an article appeared on
CNN.com entitled “Science journal could provide recipe for bioterrorism.” I cursed too many times to repeat my exact
reaction here when I read it. The best
part? It’s at least a week too late;
Nature published one of the two articles in question last week. I posted about it on both this blog and Dr. Amedeo. So, if the recipe for bioterrorism is out
there (which
it really isn’t) then it was leaked seven days ago. But, you know what really gets me about the
article? It’s inflammatory journalism
about a topic that not too many people have the background to understand. I am in no way saying they are ill educated - I am saying that they need the proper setting to understand why these papers are linked to bioterrorism and to see that they aren't. CNN.com doesn't provide such context. They just spew out words like “avian flu,” “pandemic,”
and “d-e-a-t-h” so people will read it and think that scientists are
irresponsible. The fact that a
moratorium was placed on this research months ago and that many major
scientific institutions discussed the research before publishing it is
inconsequential. Scientists are out to
make a super-duper avian flu, they are unethically publishing this work,
bioterrorists are going to read it to kill us all, and we’re definitely
covering up that vaccines cause autism.
Oh, and we’re responsible for all the “chemicals” in the world. What else?
Let me just be one scientist to
say: holy god, we are NOT doing any of the above. Also, don’t get your scientific information
from your local news, CNN, FoxNews, a freaking celebrity or anyone other than a
real live, honest-to-goodness scientist with a Ph.D. who has done real research
that has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Let’s also talk about these
statements: “All this money given to scientific research and they still don’t
have a cure for cancer!” or “How has science not come up with a medication for
that yet?” Believe me – if it’s a
subject worthy of research, someone out there is working on it. Do you know how many labs are working on cancer
research? “Cancer” is also such an
all-inclusive word. Each cancer is
different and has its own set of problems.
This isn’t going to be a one-medicine-fits-all cure. Scientific research is also expensive. Supplies, ideas, and troubleshooting experiments
take time and money. And don’t think
that the scientists doing the research are making money hand over fist here,
either. I could tell you what I made as
a graduate student (which is a position in lab just as hard-working as a post doctoral
associate or staff scientist), but I don’t want to scare off anyone who
might be interested in science. What I
make as a post doc is a matter of public knowledge and can be found on the NIH’swebsite. Yes, the government determines
the worth of my Ph.D. and, let me tell you, they don’t think highly of it. The scientists who are doing the cutting edge
research are not fairly compensated for their time, efforts, and thoughts. And then, as a thank you for all the work we
do, we are slandered in the media, discussed incorrectly by the general public,
and generally on the receiving end of all sorts of fear-mongering.
All of this goes back to why I
write this blog. I want people to
understand. I want more people to get
it. I wish everyone understood that we’re
in the trenches here, getting little recognition or payment and doing it out of
our love for science. I’m sure every
profession has a part of the experience ladder like this. I am not special or different, but I at least
have a platform to vent my frustrations.
I know that my husband could sit down and write an equally impassioned
post about how lawyers are thought to be something they aren’t, as well. He has taught me quite a bit about how the
law profession works and removed a lot of my knee-jerk reactions to
lawyers. He should get a blog, too.
Read Science (www.sciencemag.org) or Nature (www.nature.com) for excellent information pertaining to scientific topics.
Although I have crunchy tendencies, it has never occurred to me to not vaccinate our future kids. With as much disease and stuff as there is out there, I don't want to take the chance that my child would get something like tetanus (especially if they end up being as clumsy as I was, lol!).
ReplyDeleteI feel like it's really irresponsible not to vaccinate your kids. It's one thing if you don't want to vaccinate yourself, I suppose, but your child can't just go to the doctor and be like 'Hey, my mom won't let me get a shot, but I don't want to get sick, so can I have one anyway?'. If I chose not to vaccinate my kids and then they got sick because of it, I would feel so guilty.