In the case of the FDA, regulatory duties play a major role in scientists' daily working lives. However, that does not prevent them from performing significant research. I haven't found a significant decrease in academic freedom compared with an academic institution's. In fact there may be a little more freedom in terms of the ability to develop new methods and techniques. While the FDA expects our research to have relevance to its mission, we can deal with a variety of food additives, drugs, and other compounds in the context of that mission.
Government service involves scientific service to the nation.
He was chairman of the committee that licensed the first of a new generation of pertussis vaccines two years ago, and has since sat on committees responsible for approving other members of the family of so-called acellular vaccines. Both scientists divide their time between laboratory bench work and paperwork. The proportions devoted to each depend on the current requirements. But it's skewed heavily toward review for us recently. Schmued tries to split his days into two separate blocks of time, devoted to the office and the laboratory.