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Op-Ed: Brexit — Why British science and medicine will suffer

The outcome of the Brexit (“Britain exit”) vote was close but decisive. According to The Guardian, 48 percent of U.K. citizens voted to remain (16,141,241 votes), while 52 percent voted to leave (17,410,742 votes). Behind these figures are regional disparities, with Scotland, Northern Ireland, and London voting strongly to remain, and most other parts of England and Wales edging towards the leave side.

The full impact of Brexit is yet to be fully digested. Certainly, the outcome surprised many, with the shock-waves being felt through the markets, leading to a stark fall in the stock market.

Of the sectors likely to be hit hard, science and medicine stand out. With science, a U.K. science base outside of the European Union will no longer have access to the funding it needs. One main route of funding, according to Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources, is the European Union Horizon 2020 initiative. Horizon 2020 provides over half of the U.K. research funding.

Britain’s science sector has done increasingly well out of the European Union in recent years, receiving €8.8 billion in research funding in 2007-2013. Going forwards this level of funding will represent a big loss. In addition, U.K. science will need to fight to ensure it is not an after-thought as Britain renegotiates its relationship with the European Union.

Another area where there is uncertainty is with future research collaboration. The EU produces over a third of the world’s scientific output, and being linked to that, either directly in research projects or through networking, is likely to propel U.K. scientific advancement backwards.

Another complication, with the U.K.’s imminent withdrawal, is the issue of the recognition of professional qualifications. These views are not only shared by this writer — science journalist Will Goodbody (@willgoodbody) has tweeted about one famous Nobel laureate: “Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs has described #Brexit results as a “disaster” for British science.”

Other scientists are concerned about a ‘brain-drain’ as prominent researchers leave the U.K. for Europe. This is the concern of Professor Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and chair psychological medicine at King’s College London, who expressed these worries to The Independent newspaper.

With health, the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) is heavily reliant upon overseas labor. What the forthcoming exit holds for these workers is uncertain. To ease concerns in the short-term, NHS’s most senior doctor, Sir Bruce Keogh, has requested that NHS leaders send out a message to European staff working in the health service that they are valued and welcome.

Also for the health service, while the financial impact is weighed-up, there is likely to be a period of huge risk and uncertainty for NHS finances.

With medicine and pharmaceuticals, head of the U.K. BioIndustry Association, Steve Bates stated the U.K. will “have to accept European legislation that it cannot influence…or develop new U.K.-specific rules at cost.”

He then warns: “Even if the latter option were pursued, in order for the U.K. to remain an attractive place to do business in for mobile, global companies, similar (if not identical) regulatory systems would need to be established.” In short, the decision is likely to cost the pharmaceutical sector heavily.

The European Medicines Agency, which is based in London, is also expected to leave the U.K. and head for an alternative European Union country. With this the ease of registering one medicinal product across all European countries will end of the U.K., pushing up the costs of drug registration and manufacture.

The withdrawal from the European Union has many adverse impacts in addition to science and medicine — social, political, economic and cultural. One cannot help feeling that the U.K. has taken a large step backwards.

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Written By

Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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