A new Perspective piece in the New England Journal of Medicine argues that 20 months of political turmoil have caused lasting damage to American science and public health — but its authors believe the attacks will not last.
The piece, published by the NEJM, frames the past 20 months as a period of sustained pressure on scientific institutions and public health infrastructure in the United States. Its authors argue the damage is real and lasting. But they also draw on history and what they describe as recent events to suggest that such attacks on science tend, eventually, to subside.
The journal shared the Perspective on social media, inviting readers to engage with the full argument directly.
For their part, the NEJM is one of the world’s oldest and most widely read medical journals. A Perspective piece in that publication represents the authors’ own argued position rather than a primary research finding — but the journal’s decision to publish signals that the debate around the state of American public health institutions is being taken seriously at the highest levels of medical publishing.
No specific policy, legislation or named individual is identified in the post itself. The full argument, including whatever evidence the authors cite for both the damage done and their cautious optimism, sits in the complete Perspective piece linked by the journal.
Source: @NEJM
American Science Under Strain, Says New England Journal of Medicine Quiz
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