Please support Prof Christian Velot (22/11/2007)

Von: Birgit Muller [mailto:bmuller@msh-paris.fr]

Gesendet: Donnerstag, 22. November 2007 08:05
Cc: Christian Velot Betreff

Support for Prof Christian Velot

Dear friends and colleagues,

I would like to attract your attention to a petition that circulates in support of Christian Velot a researcher and professor in molecular biology at the University of Paris-Sud. Christian Velot has recently encountered professional reprisal and discrimination because he organised during his time off work conferences on biotechnology for the larger public, that pointed to the risks and uncertainties of this technology and claimed an open democratic debate. His research funds for 2008 were confiscated, student assistants initially allocated to his research team were redirected to other units, he was told that his research team would no longer be part of the institute as soon as the funds for the current research ran out by the end of 2009 and that he would have to leave the premises even before that time.

It seems important not only to support the independence of research at a time when public research is more and more dependent on private funding and thus on the interests of private funders, but also to support researchers who are ready to express themselves as citizens and who share their knowledge and concerns. Without them science would become the domain of a heavily guarded secret society and a pure instrument for the pursuit of particularistic interests to the detriment of the common good.

If you want to sign the petition, this is the website where you can do this
http://sciencescitoyennes.org/spip.php?article1638#sp1638

All the best, yours sincerely
Birgit Müller
LAIOS-CNRS
École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales 54, bd. Raspail
75006 Paris
Tel. +331 49542199
Fax. +331 49542190
bmuller@msh-paris.fr