NIH Science Under Attack: Congress Debates Sept 8 ACT NOW

[Corkey Mineola]

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PUBLIC POLICY ADVOCACY NETWORK
Public Policy Office of the American Psychological Association
September 7, 2004
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TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY

On Wednesday, September 8, Congress is expected to debate the FY 2005 Labor,
Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations bill, which funds the
National Institutes of Health (NIH). Last year, an amendment by Patrick
Toomey (R-PA) offered to the bill would have rescinded funds from five
specific grants that had been reviewed for their scientific merit and
approved for funding by the NIH. The majority of these grants examined
different aspects of sexual development and behavior and sought to inform
public health interventions for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases. The amendment failed by only two votes.

While the amendment was defeated, some in Congress continue to express
interest in eliminating federal funding for individual NIH grants they find
objectionable, even though the projects are within NIH's mission and have
gone through the established system of scientific review. During this week's
debate on the bill, an amendment may target sexual behavior research or
other areas of scientific inquiry, including basic behavioral research on
identity, motivation, and personality. We hope that you will take a moment
to call your member of Congress to express your support for NIH.

NIH's peer review process is the gold standard for determining the quality
and relevance of grant proposals. Scientists from universities across the
country with expertise in their fields of research make independent and
objective evaluations of each proposal submitted to the NIH. Advisory
councils with public representation also approve studies before NIH funds
them. Efforts to restrict peer-reviewed research would undermine one of the
core principles of the research enterprise.

To see how your Representative voted on the Toomey amendment, click here:
<http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll352.xml>.

For more information on this issue, please see our Public Policy Web site
at:
<http://www.apa.org/ppo/ppan/peerreview1pg03.html>.


ACTION NEEDED:
We need you to call your Representative and ask them to support the NIH and
the integrity of the peer review process by voting against any amendment
that seeks to cut off funding for research projects that have been peer
reviewed.

If you know who your Representative is, you can call the Capitol Switchboard
at 202-225-3121
and asked to be transferred to their office.

If you do not know who your Representative is, you can find him or her by
following this link to the Web site of the U.S. House of Representatives:
<http://www.house.gov/writerep/> and typing in your zip-code at the
appropriate space at the top of the Web site. (You can find your 9-digit zip
code via the U.S. Postal Service Web site here:
<http://www.usps.com/zip4/welcome.htm?from=home&page=2132findzip>)

We have included a sample script and an article that you may find of
interest. Thank you for all your help.

[liontamer]

1. thanks for posting

[wolfgirl]

2. kick n/t