Podcast: Should We End Government Science Funding? A Friendly Debate

By Cameron English and ChuckDinerstein — Apr 28, 2025

Nobody denies that science is plagued by an epidemic of fraudulent and politicized research, nor that it wastes billions of taxpayer dollars. But is the problem severe enough to justify completely eliminating public funding for scientific research? Let's take a look.

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Join Cameron English and Dr. Chuck Dinerstein on Episode 113 of the Science Dispatch podcast as they discuss:

Science Subsidy Trap: Why Public Research Funding Needs to End

The U.S. government spends over $160 billion annually on scientific research. This massive expense is marketed to taxpayers as an investment in groundbreaking research that fuels innovation and discovery. In truth, much of the federal science budget is expended on questionable and even fraudulent research. It’s time we eliminate it.

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Cameron English

Director of Bioscience

Cameron English is a writer, editor and co-host of the Science Facts and Fallacies Podcast. Before joining ACSH, he was managing editor at the Genetic Literacy Project.