With U.S. science in crisis, G7 researchers mount a candid defence

Globe and Mail

2 days ago

For academic researchers in Canada and elsewhere, one feature of this particular moment in history is that things that are fundamental enough in a free society to go without saying are now being said in earnest.
How else to explain the Ottawa Declaration?
The one-page document was released on Monday by the national science academies of the G7, the Group of Seven democracies whose leaders are set to meet in Kananaskis, Alta., later this month.
For the first time, the academies – which are researcher-led organizations independent of the governments they advise – have found it necessary to remind the public and G7 political leaders in a statement that science is an important and beneficial activity for them to pursue.
'Together, we have established a system of science based on transparency, meritocracy and openness that has provided the normative framework for science around the globe,' the statement says.
While recognizing that 'national circumstances' play a role in shaping science policy and international co-operation, the declaration calls on countries to maintain their commitment to academic freedom, research integrity and related values associated with scientific inquiry.
While the declaration makes no mention of the United States, it follows a series of moves by President Donald Trump's administration that take direct aim at science. They include historic cuts to research funding in universities, shuttering of programs in public agencies and a removal of data from publicly accessible web sites. The measures have often been blatantly ideological; climate and vaccine research are recurring targets.
On May 23, Mr. Trump signed an executive order that calls for the implementation of what it calls 'Gold Standard Science." Critics have said the order is a thinly disguised effort to assert partisan control over U.S. research. As of Sunday, an open letter condemning the administration's actions had drawn more than 6,300 signatures, including Nobel laureates and faculty members at universities across the U.S.
Because the U.S. invests more in science than any other G7 country, the turmoil has implications for collaborators and projects around the world.
'We need to be taking this very seriously,' said Dr. Alain-G. Gagnon, president of the Royal Society of Canada. 'We need to stand up for science. We need to stand up for democracy. We need to stand up for the public good.'
It was Dr. Gagnon, a professor in the department of political science at the University of Quebec at Montreal, who initiated the effort to put out a joint statement ahead of this year's G7 Leaders' Summit.
'I feel that something has snapped,' he said. 'We need to make sure that democracy and scientific advancement are working together.'
With Canada as the G7 host country this year, it fell to the Royal Society of Canada, which includes some 2,000 academic researchers, to set the agenda for what representatives from the seven countries' research academies should discuss during a meeting in Ottawa last month.
In previous years, such gatherings have been held ahead of the G7 Leaders' Summit to independently identify key issues the world faces and to offer perspectives on how best to tackle them.
This year's communique from the academies includes a set of policy-specific documents focused on technologies and data security, climate action and health resilience and sustainable migration.
Different this year is the additional overarching declaration delivered to the G7 calling on the countries to stand by the research community that has given them so much.
G7 countries in particular, the declaration points out, have benefited immensely from the fruits of the global scientific enterprise.
'Yet, there is so much that we take for granted in our daily lives and in our quality of life that would not exist if it were not for these scientific advances,' it says.
The declaration is signed by Dr. Gagnon and each of his counterparts from the other G7 countries, including Marcia McNutt, president of U.S. National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. and a former director of the U.S. Geological Survey during the Obama administration.
'It is important for us, as Academies charged with providing unbiased advice, to articulate the basic underpinnings of the scientific method,' Dr. McNutt said in an e-mail in to The Globe and Mail.
'The declaration lays out these principles and the commitment that we all share to ensure that the science advice that we are giving as individual academies and as international colleagues is based on our rigorous, proven practices.'
Bettina Rockenbach, president of Leopoldina, Germany's National Academy of Sciences, was another signatory to the declaration. She said that the academies have a responsibility to highlight the importance of science and to advocate for it.
Measures taken by the U.S. administration both restrict academic freedom and impair the capacity of the country to innovate, Dr. Rockenbach added.
'Given the global nature of many of the challenges that we are facing, these actions undermine scientific progress for the benefit of all,' she said.
Molly Shoichet, a professor of regenerative medicine at the University of Toronto and Ontario's former chief scientist, said she welcomed the Ottawa Declaration.
'The statement is needed,' Dr. Shoichet said. 'The assault on higher education makes it challenging for the present and future.'
While the immediate problem is that the U.S. and its G7 partners risk losing the 'innovation edge' if the world's largest economy pulls back from science, she said the future worry 'is far greater because innovation is felt in every sector – defense, health, agriculture, energy, environment.
'While we may be able to weather the storm, so much momentum will be lost.'