THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 43 lines
Scientists at the Diabetes Institutes at Norfolk's Eastern Virginia medical School are in a hot race to find a cure for diabetes.
Actually they're in two races: one to beat the disease, which afflicts 120,000 people in Southeastern Virginia and kills at least 170,000 Americans a year, and one to discover a cure before other scientists do. America has no place in its pantheon of heroes for people who finish second. And to the winners go the biggest grants and most lucrative patents.
Scientific races are fascinating. The book Double Helix by James D. Watson tells of a ridiculous error made by Nobel Prize-winner Linus Pauling in his haste to be first to describe the DNA molecule. He was first, but he was wrong, and a freshman chemistry major might have caught his mistake.
Fortunately for science, errors made in haste are rare. Science is its own world, where the ultimate goal is the acquisition of knowledge. Although glory never gets spread evenly or fairly, the part played by scientists who prove that a potential cure under consideration could never work may be crucial to finding one that does.
EVMS Dean Jock R. Wheeler said, ``There are many more scientists who work their entire lifetimes and never gain recognition or the goals they've set for themselves. That doesn't mean they've been unsuccessful.''
Still, it definitely would be a feather in Hampton Roads' cap if Diabetes Institutes scientists won the race for a cure.
If competition drives scientists to ever-greater efforts, hurray for competition. It's the force that capitalism exploits and communism doesn't, hence the triumph of capitalism.
As staff writer Marie Joyce reported Tuesday, the Diabetes Institutes, while apparently closing in on a cure, has come up short in fund raising. Meanwhile a half-dozen other centers around the world are investigating the same type of treatment. We can't all make scientific breakthroughs, but anyone can contribute to finding a cure by helping to fund research. Donors can call the Diabetes Institutes Foundation at 446-8420.
The disease is terrible and the Diabetes Institutes deserve support. Naturally we hope that a cure is found and that scientists at EVMS find it first. by CNB