Report from Asia - Will Asia 'Unfollow' NIH's Failed Research Model?
In Asia, top-level funding agencies looking for directions for their research programs are following the US (NIH) model, even though NIH is clearly failing in its mission compared to most other countries.
To find the evidence of failure, you can use Francis Collins’ own metrics. A few weeks back, he marketed his precision medicine scam to gullible Americans by writing -
As the worlds largest source of biomedical research funding, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has been advancing understanding of health and disease for more than a century. Scientific and technological breakthroughs that have arisen from NIH-supported research account for many of the gains that the United States has seen in health and longevity.
For example, an infant born today in the United States can look forward to an average lifespan of about 79 yearsnearly 3 decades longer than one born in 1900.
We pointed out in ‘Francis Collins Admits NIH Under Him Has Been Failing’ that if improvement in life expectancy at birth is the best measure of performance of NIH, NIH clearly failed during Collins’ time. The earlier post showed that US life expectancy at birth is lower than almost all advanced country. The extent of failure can be judged by making comparison with a number of very poor countries around the world, who cannot afford guitar-playing NIH director.
1. Cuba
Cubans, who had been under US blockade for over five decades, have life expectancy at birth equal to USA.
**2. Vietnam **
Vietnam’s life expectancy at birth is 75 years, which is only 4 years less than USA. This is an amazing achievement given that the country was bombed to oblivion by USA a few decades back and had no expensive ‘National Institute of Health’ since then.
3. Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, a country that came out of civil year less than a decade back, has life expectancy of 74 years.
4. Mexico
The life expectancy at birth in Mexico is 77 years and their number will cross USA’s in another 5 years at its current rate of growth (see figure),. They only need to keep these advocates of ‘genomic medicine in Mexico’ at bay.
5. Chile
Chile was run by a brutal dictator until 1990, when the human genome project started. Their life expectancy at birth is now higher than USA’s.
All those evidences show that instead of following what NIH is doing, Asian countries need to figure out what NIH is doing wrong and save the cost of an ineffective bureaucracy. Dan Graur offers some help -
What Do You Know About The Delusional @NIHDirector?
Francis Collins is the Director of the NIH. During his tenure, Big Science flourished and Real Science wilted. Francis Collins doesnt think junk DNA exists, which is quite reassuring given that he believes in virgin birth, the resurrection of corpses, and the second coming of Jesus Christ. He frequently falls on his knees and thanks JC for all kinds of things, such as the completion of the human genome project in 2001. His views on evolution are peculiar, to say the least.
