“Public opinions on life sciences articles: A collection of selected letters to the STAT editor”
TL/DR –
The article presents letters to the editor in response to various articles published on STAT’s platform, First Opinion. The writers discuss a range of topics including concerns about gain-of-function research, the state of the US healthcare system, the need for partnerships between academia and the biopharmaceutical industry, and the role of nutrition education in medical school. They also debate the use of animals in lab research, the issue of CRISPR gene-editing for rare diseases, and the impact of insurance company policies on American medicine.
Addressing Issues in Life Science: A Collection of Letters to the Editor
STAT’s First Opinion platform serves as a meeting ground for thought-provoking articles on life sciences, written by industry insiders including healthcare workers, biotech experts, and researchers. Letters to the Editor are regularly published in response to these articles, fostering robust discussions on raised issues. Reader’s letters can be submitted here.
The Debate on Dangerous Gain-of-Function Research
In response to Sarah Stanley’s article titled “The NIH ordered me to stop my ‘dangerous’ gain-of-function research. It isn’t dangerous at all,” Marc Lipsitch underlines the importance of focusing research restrictions on the tiny subset of research that genuinely poses a risk of causing a pandemic, rather than limiting safe and essential science which in turn increases the risk from infectious diseases.
US Healthcare System: Profit-driven or Patient-driven?
Steffie Woolhandler’s, David U. Himmelstein’s, Adam W. Gaffney’s, and Danny McCormick’s article, “The U.S. experiment with profit-driven health care has failed,” sparked responses from readers arguing for a more rational health system approach that addresses the public’s unrealistic expectations and focuses on allocating healthcare according to need.
NIH Funding: A Deeper Look
The article “Corporate support cannot make up for threats to the NIH budget,” by Jerry Avorn prompted responses from readers who stressed the need for innovative partnerships with the biopharmaceutical industry and urged for a paradigm shift in traditional research.
Tackling Uncertainty in Public Health
Michaela Kerrissey and Richard J. Tofel’s article, “The origins of Covid and public health’s uncertainty problem,” sparked a discussion on how to approach the uncertainty inherent in science, with readers arguing for a clearer distinction between scientific unknowns and political controversy.