The media is crying for "news." Medical news is reported by ''science reporters" and edited by "science editors". The media is supported predominantly by advertising and by sale of their "product"-newspapers, magazines, television and radio.
The scientific community is crying for research funds and for acclaim. The largest deficit spending in recorded history has resulted in the largest decline in Government research funding that this country has ever witnessed. Private sources of research funding are becoming equally scarce and recent proposals to change our tax structure insure a further decline.
The public is concerned, they are frustrated and they are frightened. They are concerned that medical expenses have risen to a level that makes quality care unobtainable for large segments of the population, such as those afflicted with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury. They are frustrated by the medical profession's apparent inability to deal with the plight of the patient with "incurable conditions" such as interstitial cystitis and they are frightened of contracting a new wave of fatal diseases such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). So they band together and form activist groups.
There appears to be at least one activist group for each known affliction of mankind, not to mention the plight of other living things such as whales, baby seals, snails in Tennessee and striped bass in the Hudson River. All of these groups have several things in common. They all believe fervently in their cause (usually to the exclusion of all other causes), they all solicit money to promote their cause, they all enlist the help of the "media" to promote their mission and, when they become large enough, they no longer satisfy the needs of all of their members, who then form new societies to deal with their own particular concerns (which are slightly different from that of the parent organization). The new societies also need money and they also solicit help from the public.
Individual researchers are not very different from the "coucerned societies. " They believe fervently in their research, in their career and in their intuitive knowledge that they are "on the right track." They desperately need money to continue their research, and for clinical trials, they need patients. For ego gratification they need acclaim. When