Swine flu no cause for alarm, Obama says

WASHINGTON, April 27 (UPI) -- Health officials are monitoring emerging cases of swine flu in the United States, which is on a heightened state of alert, U.S. President Obama said Monday.

But, he said during an address before the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, "it is not a cause for alarm."

During his remarks, Obama said he wants a goal of 3 percent of the gross domestic product for scientific research and development and to create a fund for high-risk, high-reward research.

Progress in a host of scientific disciplines means "we have the potential to make enormous progress against diseases in the coming decades," Obama said. "That is why my administration is committed to increasing funding for the National Institutes of Health, including $6 billion to support cancer research, part of a sustained, multiyear plan to double cancer research in our country."

Obama also announced the appointment of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, which will be charged with advising him about national strategies "to nurture and sustain a

culture of scientific innovation." Obama said his top science advisers would be Eric Lander, one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project; and Harold Varmus, former head of the National Institutes of Health and a Nobel laureate.

He also challenged educational communities to work to improve achievement in math and science by raising standards, modernizing labs, upgrading curriculum and forging partnerships.

Obama said states making strong commitments and progress in math and science education would be eligible later in 2009 for funds under the secretary of education's $5 billion Race to the Top program.

"Science cannot supplant our ethics, our values, our principles or our faith, but science can inform those things, and help put these values, these moral sentiments, that faith, to work," Obama said.