Minister for Science?

    Mr Trudeau has appointed a Science Minister with very questionable credentials.  Her name is Dr. Kirsty Duncan and her doctorate is in geography, but this did  not prevent her from presenting herself as an expert in both neurology and virology. It is true that Dr. Duncan contributed to a panel that was awarded a Nobel Prize for its work on climate change.  She played a major part in organizing an expedition in the late 1990s to find frozen samples of the epidemic 1918 flu.  It was a futile event which  eventually led to nothing apart from acrimony and ill will.  Her greatest fiasco was her commitment to a treatment for multiple sclerosis due to a hypothetical condition  known as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency — CCSVI described by Dr. Paolo Zamboni.   This was supposed to be due to narrowing of the veins in the neck restricting drainage.  Dr. Zamboni corrected this surgically.   Duncan continued to support the treatment long after it had been proved useless and deteriorated into a cult philosophy, just as she had disputed the judgement of world class virologists in her previous endevour.

 “This is the most curious appointment since Caligula named his horse as consul,” scoffed McGill University’s Dr. Michael Rasminsky, calling the Zamboni ideas “profoundly non-scientific.”    Her behaviour in a number areas would not seem to have been conducive to nurturing the scientific method.  I will be monitoring her leadership and activities as will many others over the next few years.

Let me know if you have any  views on this appointment.