Trofim Lysenko is one of history’s most prolific, if lesser known, mass murderers. The head of the Institute of Genetics at the Soviet Academy of Sciences from 1940 to the mid-1960s, Lysenko demonstrated that you don’t need a Gestapo or Red Guard to cause death on a massive scale, just bad brains. Lysenko dismissed Mendelian genetics in favor of his own pseudoscientific theory, that organisms can acquire traits during their lifetime which are then passed on to their descendants. This caught the attention of Stalin, as it fit his desire to mold the “perfect Soviet man”. From his position of power, Lysenko ensured that dissenting scientists were ostracized or worse. Many were imprisoned, even killed.
Lysenko’s misguided beliefs resulted in widespread famine and death. Food crops, particularly wheat, were to be “trained” to grow under adverse conditions, so that these traits would be passed on to future generations. Of course, the wheat ignored Lysenko, sticking stubbornly to its genetic instructions. As a result, millions died of starvation in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova and elsewhere. Furthermore, persistent adherence to Lysenko’s pseudoscience left the USSR and Eastern bloc far behind in the life science revolution that took place from the 1960s to the present in the United States and Europe.
The US is now experiencing its own version of Lysenkoism: RFK Jr. and others of his ilk have been placed in charge of our scientific and medical establishments by an ignorant, spite-filled Trump and confirmed by a supine and cowardly GOP-led Senate. These malignant actors do not just devalue science. Science is their enemy. RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine pseudoscientific nonsense is threatened by facts, making anyone who treats facts with respect his enemy. From his position of power, RFK Jr. is in a position to stifle any who disagree with him, which is pretty much any scientist, anywhere, in any field.
The latest weapon being considered in the war against research that might make the Trump regime uncomfortable is a proposed rule change from the Office of Management and Budget regarding how research grants from any agency of the Federal government can be considered for funding. This rule change, OMB-2026-0034, would permit political appointees to have final say over what (and who’s) research is funded, regardless of peer review valuations. Furthermore, political appointees could decide which research areas are valuable, over the judgements of trained experts. Even currently funded projects that ran counter to the regime’s whims could be stopped for no reason. If enforced, this would wreak havoc on the training of future physicians, medical researchers and scientists.
This rule change is open for public comment until July 13th. (I am posting my submitted comments on my blog here). You can enter your comments here. Whether opposition to this rule makes any difference in the near term is moot. Public comments can be used to force changes in the courts, so don’t feel that it is pointless to dissent. They want you to give up. Don’t.
The loss of foreign medical and food aid, the Iran war, the backstabbing of Ukraine in its struggle against Putin, all of these have already laid a huge butcher’s bill at Trump’s feet. IF RFK Jr.’s blind stupidity and prejudice is allowed to prevail, Trump’s legacy will be the same as Stalin’s, Mao’s and Hitler’s: The deaths of millions due to evil and incompetence.