That's the same argument we heard 20 years ago when the government started funding research. People said that if that happened we'd all be building bombs. Obviously, that hasn't happened. However, Jaffee said he sees a greater danger in working with corporations, since they are profit-motivated. They usually have a panel of scientists from different areas.
Corporations reflect the views of their board of directors, which reflects the stock market.
Smith pointed out the potential social benefits from university-corporate partnerships. However, Jaffee said he objected to the product-driven research that seems to result from collaborations with corporations. He said the issue is most pressing in the field of biotechnology. This emphasis is backed by enormous amounts of money. I don't think that the University of California should be a trade school for biotechnology.