October 9, 2013

expert reaction to the US government shutdown

The government shutdown in the US has lead to state science agencies like the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health closing all but the most vital operations.

Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society, said:

“The present US Government shutdown is having an immediate and highly detrimental effect on scientific research both in the US and for international collaborations involving US scientists.  It is tragic to see the world’s most powerful scientific nation crippled by this dysfunctional political action.”

Eric Hand, Chief of Correspondents, Nature:

“The effects of the shutdown continue to spread out from Washington DC, where thousands of government scientists have been sent home. As the shutdown persists, contractors around the country are missing lump-sum payments they were supposed to receive. The impact has even spread to Antarctica, where the summer field season was suspended. A contractor began to evacuate the research stations there, because the National Science Foundation could not guarantee further payments would be made.”

Sarah Main, Director of  CASE, said:

“Science is sustained by a global network of funders: governments, industry, charities and philanthropists. In America, as in the UK, government funding underpins this network and provides the stability and confidence for others to plan, collaborate and invest. In this extraordinary situation, the tap has been turned off and with it, continuity and confidence in the network is at risk. The effects will spread widely. We hope that American government funding will return quickly to ensure that international science continues to flourish.”

Professor John Hardy, UCL and ex-NIH lab chief:

“Vital work on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is being held up while hardworking scientists are being forced to stay at home, without even being allowed to read their email.  It is difficult to see how this is fiscally responsible.”

Imran Khan, CEO of the British Science Association, said:

“The biggest lesson we should take from this week’s Nobel Prizes is that science doesn’t belong to one nation, it’s an international and collaborative human enterprise. Our scientists work with American scientists, and the UK public benefits enormously from research that goes on there, as well as vice versa. If the shutdown continues, it’s bad news for both scientists and the public here in the UK as well as across the pond.”