Governments should be responsible for funding and controlling scientific research rather than private organizations. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Undertaking scientific

research

is imperative if countries want to progress and compete in a globalized world.

However

, the funding and control of

this

research

remain contentious issues. In my opinion, the government should have the predominant responsibility for these. One of the

first

issues is the knowledge that we gain from

research

. If governments are responsible

then

they are driven by the need to make advances in knowledge in order to improve people’s lives.

This

is because they are accountable to the public and the

research

is paid for by taxes.

On the other hand

, private organizations are driven by profit.

This

may mean that some

research

that could be valuable to society may not begin because there is no monetary gain. Another issue related to

this

is the

research

process. When the funding for

research

comes from the same organization

that is

going to gain from a favourable outcome, there is a strong potential for biased results. Taking drug companies as an example, legislation usually requires rigorous trials for new drugs that can take many years to complete. The companies have large amounts of money invested in

such

analysis and the need for positive results is paramount. It is difficult for a scientist to remain impartial in these circumstances.

However

, if

this

is controlled and funded by governments, their accountability means that

such

conflicts of interest are less likely to occur. On balance, I would argue that

although

it is not realistic to remove all opportunities for privately funded exploration, governments should have the main responsibility for monitoring and controlling

this

. Strong checks and balances need to be in place to ensure future analysis is ethical and productive.