Does it matter? The cuts include Medicaid, Medicare, and Science. Will the reductions in science matter?
Confession: I hated science in school—it was so dull. I earned good grades, but thought it was a waste of time. Looking back, I realize that the most important lesson I learned was that when we fail to ask questions, we fail to find solutions.
Mr. Clauson, my high school biology instructor, told us repeatedly that he “could have invented penicillin.” Below is his story about his college studies:
- Penicillin had not reached the public yet. Mr. Clauson had studied science in college, and he told us over and over again how a specific pesky mold kept taking over his Petri dishes and killing his science experiments.
- Mr. Clauson had many questions but didn’t receive many answers from his failed Petri dish experiments, as the mold ruined them.
- He did not know that in 1928, Alexander Fleming had asked a different question: “If this mold can kill my experiment, I wonder if I could make it kill something I want to kill?
It wasn’t until 1941 that Fleming’s pesky mold had developed sufficiently to leave the science laboratory and become a viable medical treatment. This treatment, initially developed for use in WWII to save our soldiers’ lives (1939-1945) from war injuries, became a pivotal advancement now known as penicillin.
We take penicillin for granted now, but it is considered a National Historic Chemical Landmark.
The development of penicillin makes me wonder: What discoveries await us? Do we have “Petri dishes” that are testing new and easier solutions? If we do, the Petri dishes full of hope can be found at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
As passed by party-line vote in the US House, the BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL cuts funding for many (most?) NIH contracts that support the development of new solutions for health problems. No funding means no answers.
I wonder who will pay the price for the super-rich enjoying big new tax breaks that former healthcare funds will be directed to pay for?
Kids who survive cancer but face a lifetime of challenges?
Farmers with Parkinson’s disease?
WHO?