Policy & Ethics

Most scientists would be flattered to have a celebrity endorse an article they wrote. However, if that celebrity is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the endorsement is tantamount to the kiss of death. If RFK, Jr.

 

Oklahoma's August 26th verdict against Johnson & Johnson was never a question of "if," only "how much." Recently, it's been all the rage to assign blame for today's "opioid crisis," justified or not.

Recently the podcast Radiolab took on the right to be forgotten, a 

Spoiler alert – this is not a discussion of whether anyone should be held liable for Roundup or opioids.

Let me get the controversial, hot-button words out of the way, Trump administration, Roundup, Monsanto. For just a moment, irrespective of which side of the aisle you wish to embrace, put the emotions aside, and consider the following facts.

The University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) has become a strange place.

The protection of intellectual property is vital to innovation. If anyone can just take something you created -- be it a song or a drug -- without proper compensation, there would be little reason to develop new things.

Health care is consolidating. The big mergers, like CVS-Aetna or Cigna and Express Scripts, garner headlines but do not be distracted.

There is always talk of the “life-work” balance which assumes that these are, in fact, separate activities. That assumption is also in play when we look at our behavior in those two settings.