GOOD news from Washington! President George W. Bush has named Floyd Kvamme to
be co-chair of PCAST. Isn鈥檛 that terrific?
Excuse me? Did I hear someone say, 鈥淲hat the heck is PCAST and who is Floyd
Kvamme, and why on Earth are you telling us this?鈥� Well, PCAST is the
President鈥檚 Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. It鈥檚 a group of
non-government scientists, engineers and others besotted by science who meet a
few times a year to belabour topics already thoroughly explored by others.
Well, Kvamme is a successful venture capitalist who鈥檚 made big bucks in
Silicon Valley. He鈥檚 also tight with the conservative wing of the Republican
Party. One suspects that his appointment was a sop to conservatives whose
feelings had been bruised by what they saw as ideologically incorrect choices
for top administration jobs.
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And why am I telling you this? Because even though Bush moved (reasonably)
rapidly to choose a new PCAST co-chair, he still hasn鈥檛 appointed his own
science adviser or a new director for the National Institutes of Health. In
light of these failures, you can hardly be surprised that the Bush
administration wants to ballyhoo his new man on PCAST. Besides, I like the name
Floyd Kvamme.
THE recent debate over human cloning has brought together two unlikely groups
in an unusual partnership. One is made up of the majority of scientists who,
despite tabloid headlines that suggest the main goal of human cloning is to
produce a baby, consider the idea too horrible for words. Leaving aside moral
objections, scientists say the problems with animal cloning suggest two likely
scenarios: that human cloning won鈥檛 work at all, or that a baby would have some
horrible health defect if somehow it was born. Should the latter occur,
scientists know they would all be branded as monsters for performing such a
horrifying experiment. However, they aren鈥檛 terribly bothered by the notion of
hacking a human embryo about to generate cell lines for research. Embryonic stem
cells, as we鈥檙e reminded at every turn, could hold the potential for
revolutionising medicine.
The other side of this odd coupling is the religious right. These are the
guys who believe that abortion is murder, and that life starts at conception, or
possibly even slightly before. When it comes to creating a baby by cloning, the
scientists and the religious crowd are reading from the same hymnal.
The problem, of course, will come when Congress starts considering banning
any kind of cloning research, including attempts to create embryonic stem cells.
That should spell the end to the partnership.
THE assault by George W. Bush on environmental standards鈥攁nd in the
interest of journalistic objectivity, I hasten to note that 鈥渁ssault鈥� is what
the enviros are calling it鈥攃ontinues in Washington. The first salvos have
upended Bill Clinton鈥檚 plans to tighten the standards for arsenic levels allowed
in drinking water. That was followed by withdrawal of support for the Kyoto
global warming protocol.
Now the second salvos have hit. This time it鈥檚 the President鈥檚 budget for the
next fiscal year. Bush wants to cut money dedicated to research on how to make
everything from factories to appliances more energy-efficient. There are
reductions in solar research cash, too. And despite tough talk by Bush officials
about the mountains of nuclear waste that鈥檚 still looking for a permanent home,
the budget for cleaning it up at 鈥渃old-war鈥� weapons factories is set for a trim
as well.
The environmentalists are on a war footing. Cooler heads say it鈥檚 political
reality: Bush knows he has to appease the far right wing of the Republican
party, and the environment looks to be the sacrificial lamb.