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Related article<\/span> Two new studies suggest Paris climate goal is dead. One scientist is going even further<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Twenty-two states announced Monday that they are suing the Trump administration for \u201cattempting to illegally slash grant funding\u201d at research institutions. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur Administration wants to help America have the best research in the world, and we believe that by ensuring that more cents on every dollar go directly to science and not to administrative overheard, we can take another step in that direction,\u201d Nixon said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese are funds that are used to keep, I mean literally, to help keep the lights on at the university,\u201d said Katie Edwards, who directs the Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan. \u201cWithout having sufficient funding, I don\u2019t know how many universities are going to be able to continue to be leading research institutions in the world, quite frankly.\u201d <\/p>\n
A White House official defended the administration\u2019s actions, adding that it is doing an \u201caudit\u201d of what federal funding is going out the door. <\/p>\n
\u201cAssuming this work is not grift \u2026 or there\u2019s nothing malicious going on, we\u2019re doing an audit process,\u201d the official said. \u201cI understand there\u2019s a sense of concern here, but this isn\u2019t an anti-science administration.\u201d <\/p>\n
The federal government funds about 40% of the basic research conducted in the United States, according to the National Science Foundation; pulling that funding pipeline would deliver a crippling blow not just to America\u2019s universities but to progress in cancer research, climate science and more. <\/p>\n
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Related article<\/span> \u2018It\u2019s almost science fiction\u2019: Scientists say the shape of Earth\u2019s inner core is changing<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Edwards, at the University of Michigan, employs about 50 research assistants. Her work focuses on preventing sexual violence in disadvantaged youth, including LGBTQ and transgender kids. Over the past two weeks, she\u2019s had one grant proposal pulled out of review at the NIH, with no guidance about its fate. She was told to stop work on another study, though that order was ultimately reversed by court injunction. <\/p>\n
She says the confusion and uncertainty have been devastating. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an intervention study that\u2019s intended to prevent depression and suicide and other negative outcomes among trans youth, and it would be extremely dangerous for us to just stop in the middle of a clinical trial. I mean, literally, it could cost lives,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n
Alongside funding cuts, staff at federal agencies \u2014 including scientists \u2014 are receiving mass emails inviting them to quit their jobs for so-called buyouts. In response to a question about whether they could get another job and still be paid severance, the email encouraged it: \u201cThe way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.\u201d <\/p>\n
A survey created by public health researchers to document the repercussions of Trump\u2019s executive actions has generated more than 3,000 responses. About 80% of those who answered the survey said they receive direct federal funding. <\/p>\n
Another alarming effect of the actions: Some overseas health research labs could be shuttered \u2014 labs that monitor harmful infections that could evolve into the next global pandemic. <\/p>\n
Another early-stage safety study, which was testing vaginal rings to prevent HIV and pregnancy in women in South Africa, was terminated abruptly, forcing researchers to scramble to contact 17 study participants. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to make phone calls to those participants pretty much immediately and tell them to come into the clinic,\u201d said Leila Mansoor, a senior scientist with the Centre for AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to remove those rings, even though they were only in the trial for, say, a few weeks, when they actually signed up to be in the trial and use one ring for one month,\u201d Mansoor said. <\/p>\n
The emergency withdrawal violated the trust of the study participants, she says, and set back years of work to get to that point in the trial. Mansoor said they\u2019re searching for alternative sources of funding but don\u2019t know whether they\u2019ll be able to keep their doors open. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe political agenda is resulting in researchers and science, really, just being collateral damage,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
One of the fears spreading through the science community is that impartial scientific work will be infused with politics \u2013 to the point that projects could be chosen for funding based on whether researchers support Trump. <\/p>\n
Independent scientific boards that advise federal agencies on the regulations they craft have also been affected. <\/p>\n
Last week, all members of the Scientific Advisory Board and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, two independent panels that advise the Environmental Protection Agency, were dismissed \u2013 something that happened during Trump\u2019s first term, as well. <\/p>\n
The decision to \u201creset\u201d the membership of the two committees \u201cseeks to reverse the politicization of SAB and CASAC made by the previous administration,\u201d EPA spokeswoman Molly Vaseliou said in a statement. <\/p>\n
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Related article<\/span> Trump energy secretary allowed 23-year-old DOGE rep to access IT systems over objections from general counsel<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Jeremy Sarnat, an environmental health professor and the most recent chair of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, pushed back on that notion, saying he has never seen politicization inside the committees. <\/p>\n
The dismissal of the board throws its work on lead and nitrogen oxides into limbo, as well as its upcoming work on ozone. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe work on each of these pollutants will be delayed while the administration finds new members for these committees,\u201d Sarnat said. <\/p>\n
The membership of these independent advisory groups has fluctuated from administration to administration. Biden EPA Administrator Michael Regan added and replaced members of both committees after Biden took office in 2021. <\/p>\n
The independent committees are important because the laws governing the EPA\u2019s work require it to use \u201cthe best available science,\u201d said Chris Frey, a scientist who served in the Biden EPA and sat on both boards during previous administrations. That science goes into developing regulations on multiple chemicals, pollutants and planet-warming emissions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re there as part of good government and good scientific practice,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is really about integrity and protecting the public.\u201d <\/p>\n
Frey said he was concerned by what has happened in the first weeks of the Trump administration and suggested that, unlike previous Republican or Democrat presidents, it was \u201clooking outside of the law.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re much more aggressive now. They\u2019re either trying to sideline science or censor it,\u201d Frey said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n
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