North Carolina State University News Services
Campus Box 7504
Raleigh, NC 27695
(919) 515-3470
Visit NC Stae News Services' Web page at http://www.ncsu.edu/news/.
Media Contacts:
Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, 919/515-2726
Tim Lucas, News Services, 919/515-3470 or [email protected]
Feb. 11, 1998
Pfiesteria: A Case Study of When Politics and Science Clash
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AT 3 P.M. SATURDAY, FEB. 14
When politics and science clash, science -- and ultimately society -- are the losers.
So says Dr. JoAnn Burkholder, a North Carolina State University aquatic ecologist whose pioneering research on the fish-killing toxic marine microorganism, Pfiesteria piscicida, was one of 1997's top science stories and also fodder for one of the year's most contentious public debates about the role science should play in shaping environmental policy.
Since 1991, Burkholder's research has implicated Pfiesteria's toxins in massive fish kills and mysterious human ailments in Mid-Atlantic coastal waters, most recently in rivers emptying into the lower Chesapeake Bay. Her findings, published in 22 peer-reviewed papers, have linked Pfiesteria outbreaks to increased nutrient loading from sewage, animal wastes and other sources.
"The scientific links are established. Yet in some of the areas hardest hit by Pfiesteria, environmental managers refuse to recognize them, even though they can cite no peer-reviewed data to support their stance," Burkholder says. "It's clearly a case of science being held hostage by economic fears and political interests. Our rivers and estuaries are in decline, and Nero is fiddling."
Burkholder will present her case, along with those of other scientists who have locked horns with political interests, in "Management of Harmful Marine Microbes: When Science and Politics Don't Mix," at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Philadelphia. She is one of five NC State researchers invited to make presentations at the AAAS convention, the year's most prestigious scientific gathering.
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, AAAS officials will present her with their 1998 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award. The award recognizes her work to promote awareness of how U.S. rivers and fisheries could be harmed by Pfiesteria, and how its potent toxins can affect human health.
This is the third major honor Burkholder has received for her work in the past year. In August 1997, she received a prestigious Pew Fellowship in Conservation and the Environment. In January 1998, she was named Conservationist of the Year by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The political battle over Pfiesteria is just one example of a trend occurring more and more frequently in environmental and public health arenas, Burkholder says. "We saw it happen at the Kyoto Summit, and we see it taking place in medical research too. A problem is identified; scientists are asked by policy makers to present their best research on it; but then the policy makers disregard the science if it isn't politically expedient. And if the scientist persists in calling attention to his data, he is labeled a crusader or activist and his credibility is attacked," she says. "What type of message is this sending to young scientists? It's telling them: Play the political game, or pay the consequences."
Burkholder believes that scientific associations like AAAS need to hold workshops for scientists -- especially for young researchers and junior faculty members whose studies have begun to cross political or economic lines -- to better prepare them to handle the situation if it occurs.
"Scientists are trained to conduct bioassays and take field samples," she says. "We're not trained in how to give congressional testimony, access the political lay of the land, or respond to reporters' questions. Yet increasingly, that's part of the job."
Equally important, she says, the workshops should be part of a broader program of symposia, support systems and continuing-education programs that stress the importance of ethics. "The temptation to make a Faustian bargain with political or economic interests can be great, especially in the early years of a scientist's career when research funding is desperately hard to come by," she says. "We need to find ways to recognize and reward scientists for pursuing science in the public good." She says she has spoken with other scientists, including AAAS officials, who agree. "There's momentum building. At this year's AAAS meeting, for instance, there are more sessions than I can ever remember on scientific ethics and science's role in policy making."
-- lucas --
NOTE TO EDITORS: The abstract from Dr. Burkholder's AAAS presentation follows.
"Management of Harmful Marine Microbes: When Science and Politics Don't Mix" Dr. JoAnn M. Burkholder North Carolina State University presented at the 1998 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
ABSTRACT: Although some waterborne pathogens are well understood, the life cycles, distributions, and targeted prey species of many are poorly known and research funding to obtain this information has been seriously lacking. Near centers of increasing human population growth by quiet coastal waters, certain harmful marine microalgae have been increasing in frequency and geographic extent. Their outbreaks have been correlated with increased nutrient loading from sewage, animal wastes and other sources. The extent to which management has taken the fundamental step of recognizing established linkages among harmful microalgae, shellfish and fin fish contamination, fish kills and human health impacts has been largely constrained by political dictates. Depending on the situation, several major factions have restricted progress to gain insights about the extent of chronic, sublethal but serious human health impacts from harmful microalgae. These have included industries and mun! icipalities that fear higher waste treatment costs or negative publicity with economic impacts; political as well as regulatory health/environmental officials who are influenced by those forces; and, less well recognized but potentially more damaging, certain scientists who aid in legitimizing the economic/political factions by denying or discrediting the issue without supporting data, for reasons of self-gain. Two recent case histories will be presented to illustrate the spectrum in health management, and scientist response to harmful algae blooms that have been shown to cause serious impacts to human health. Recommendations will be offered to strengthen ethics in scientific arenas that bridge environmental health.
RSS