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As a practicing scientist (>20y) I can say emphatically that science will never be free of ideological influences. In the present the primary driver of science is money. If the bills are not paid, the science does not get done. Thus the money controls the science and the conclusions derived thereof. There are of course some areas of investigation where this does not apply, for instance sciences of purely theoretical nature that do not have religious implications, that have little direct relevance to the contemporary do not often suffer the manipulations of money except insofar as they are challenged as irrelevant. On the other hand, in areas where there are direct effects of science on someones' bottom line, the pressures to adjust investigations and their conclusions is considerable. Thus as long as a partial entity pays the bills or endorses the projects to be funded science will always be subject to the whimsy of power. The unfortunate fact is that many modern practicing scientists recognize and submit to these subjective influencer's of reality, resulting in the distortion of science and the production of much human suffering such as in the cases of Vioxx, thalidomide, Fen-Phen and so on. Those who have the gold make the rules.

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