Intolerance, mavericks & the politicisation of science

Has science become politicised? Let’s look at the evidence.

First up, one of my hobby horses: global warming. In my opinion, and a number of commentators (such as Christopher Booker, the noted columnist and founding editor of Private Eye), this has become a matter of faith. I’m not going to go into the arguments here but suffice it to say that the evidence for climate change is, I believe, inconclusive at best. (For some of the flaws in the theory, see the book The Real Global Warming Disaster by Christopher Booker.) But try telling that to the science Establishment or the green lobby and you’ll find the reaction is similar to that of the Catholic church during the Inquisition. What too about the psychologists who debated whether to classify “climate change denial” as a mental illness (presumably a type of delusion)?

Take medicine as another example. If anyone questions the orthodoxy on vaccines (ie, vaccines are an unmitigated blessing) they are in deep trouble. Just think of Andrew Wakefield, who in 1998 published research showing that some cases of autism were linked to the MMR vaccine. There was such a hostile reaction from the government and the medical Establishment that he had to move to the USA (where in general there is a more enlightened attitude to scientific dissenters) to continue his work. Also, one by one, the co-authors of his paper were persuaded to recant their views (just like the Inquisition).

As a final example, consider genetically modified (GM) foods. Even though, when the foods were first introduced, little testing had been carried out to see if it was safe (the original GM soya bean was, as far as I remember, only tested on starfish -- not on humans -- for six weeks!) a lot of scientists, especially ones employed by the biotech companies, asserted that these foods were safe. They gave the impression of playing God.

So, all in all, I think we can say yes, science has become politicised, but it has also, in effect, become a religion. And that is bad news for both science and religion.