The politics of cancer

Trends in the global funding and activity of cancer research

“…Research Funding Organisations unthinkingly apply business processes where they are clearly inappropriate and the Healthcare‐University environment is subject to ever more Byzantine administration. The intellectual underpinnings of cancer research are radically different from the usual input–output model (Chubin and Studer, 1978) and, as John Cooper former President of the Association of American Medical Colleges put it, “In the Cancer Conquest program the targets are diffuse, unseen and largely unknown” (US Senate, 1971). In this vein the fall of cancer research into the pit of mediocre dogma is a real threat if over‐regulation and over‐management continue to grow.…”

Collective decision making in the social context of science

“…Scientists were paid by Hoffman-LaRoche to criticize Horrobin's results and this affected his funding (Savon, 1982). The American Medical Association hasken active in trying to suppress epidemiology cancer research, but it has been active in encouraging the more "pure" chemical and viral etiology research that turns out to cause fewer hassles with industry (Chubin & Studer, 1978;Epstein, 1979). Rosalie Bertell experienced repressive measures from some of her atomic energy colleagues in the U.S. because her results from low-level radiation research were bothersome to the nuclear power industry.…”

Managing the future: The Special Virus Leukemia Program and the acceleration of biomedical research

“…To these critics, the SVLP was a moonshot without a moon, an effort whose misguided attempts to manage science threatened scientific autonomy (Wade, 1971). Later in the 1970s, the SVLP's centralized, hierarchical, and contract-directed framework provided a template for more ambitious efforts to diminish the power of peer review and manage biomedical research (Chubin & Studer, 1978).…”