Latest news with #StandUpforScience
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NIH employees publish ‘Bethesda Declaration' in dissent of Trump administration policies
In October 2020, two months before Covid-19 vaccines would become available in the US, Stanford health policy professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and two colleagues published an open letter calling for a contrarian approach to managing the risks of the pandemic: protecting the most vulnerable while allowing others largely to resume normal life, aiming to obtain herd immunity through infection with the virus. They called it the Great Barrington Declaration, for the Massachusetts town where they signed it. Backlash to it was swift, with the director-general of the World Health Organization calling the idea of allowing a dangerous new virus to sweep through unprotected populations 'unethical.' Bhattacharya later testified before Congress that it – and he – immediately became targets of suppression and censorship by those leading scientific agencies. Now, Bhattacharya is the one in charge, and staffers at the agency he leads, the US National Institutes of Health, published their own letter of dissent, taking issue with what they see as the politicization of research and destruction of scientific progress under the Trump administration. They called it the Bethesda Declaration, for the location of the NIH. 'We hope you will welcome this dissent, which we modeled after your Great Barrington Declaration,' the staffers wrote. The letter was signed by more than 300 employees across the biomedical research agency, according to the non-profit organization Stand Up for Science, which also posted it; while many employees signed anonymously because of fears of retaliation, nearly 100 - from graduate students to division chiefs - signed by name. It comes the day before Bhattacharya is due to testify before Congress once more, in a budget hearing to be held Tuesday by the Senate appropriations committee. It's just the latest sign of strife from inside the NIH, where some staff last month staged a walkout of a townhall with Bhattacharya to protest working conditions and an inability to discuss them with the director. 'If we don't speak up, we allow continued harm to research participants and public health in America and across the globe,' said Dr. Jenna Norton, a program officer at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and a lead organizer of the Declaration, in a news release from Stand Up for Science. She emphasized she was speaking in a personal capacity, not on behalf of the NIH. The letter, which the staffers said they also sent to US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and members of Congress who oversee the NIH, urged Bhattacharya to 'restore grants delayed or terminated for political reasons so that life-saving science can continue,' citing work in areas including health disparities, Covid-19, health impacts of climate change and others. They cited findings by two scientists that said about 2,100 NIH grants for about $9.5 billion have been terminated since the second Trump administration began. The NIH budget had been about $48 billion annually, and the Trump administration has proposed cutting it next year by about 40%. The research terminations 'throw away years of hard work and millions of dollars,' the NIH staffers wrote. 'Ending a $5 million research study when it is 80% complete does not save $1 million, it wastes $4 million.' They also urged Bhattacharya to reverse a policy that aims to implement a new, and lower, flat 15% rate for paying for indirect costs of research at universities, which supports shared lab space, buildings, instruments and other infrastructure, as well as the firing of essential NIH staff. Those who wrote the Bethesda Declaration were joined Monday by outside supporters, in a second letter posted by Stand Up for Science and signed by members of the public, including more than a dozen Nobel Prize-winning scientists. 'We urge NIH and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership to work with NIH staff to return the NIH to its mission and to abandon the strategy of using NIH as a tool for achieving political goals unrelated to that mission,' they wrote. The letter called for the grant-making process to be conducted by scientifically trained NIH staff, guided by rigorous peer review, not by 'anonymous individuals outside of NIH.' It also challenged assertions put forward by Kennedy, who often compares today's health outcomes with those around the time his uncle John F. Kennedy was president, in the early 1960s. 'Since 1960, the death rate due to heart disease has been cut in half, going from 560 deaths per 100,000 people to approximately 230 deaths per 100,000 today,' they wrote. 'From 1960 to the present day, the five-year survival rate for childhood leukemia has increased nearly 10-fold, to over 90% for some forms. In 1960, the rate of measles infection was approximately 250 cases per 100,000 people compared with a near zero rate now (at least until recently).' They acknowledged there's still much work to do, including addressing obesity, diabetes and opioid dependency, 'but,' they wrote, 'glamorizing a mythical past while ignoring important progress made through biomedical research does not enhance the health of the American people.' Support from the NIH, they argued, made the US 'the internationally recognized hub for biomedical research and training,' leading to major advances in improving human health. 'I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm just so frustrated that the government is spending so much money on cancer research, or trying to address Alzheimer's,' ' said Dr. Jeremy Berg, who organized the letter of outside support and previously served as director of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH. 'Health concerns are a universal human concern,' Berg told CNN. 'The NIH system is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but has been unbelievably productive in terms of generating progress on specific diseases.'
Technical.ly
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Technical.ly
Fight for the future: Science Town Hall gives Philadelphians a chance to question elected officials on budget cuts
This is a guest post by Marion Leary and Amanda Rabinowitz, co-organizers with Philadelphia Science Action (PSA), an organization that works to promote science and scientific thinking for the advancement of society. is a media partner for PSA's town hall on May 29, where people are invited to discuss firsthand with elected officials their plans specific to science and climate change. The future of scientific inquiry and academic freedom is in jeopardy. For the past four months, the scientific community has watched as the Trump administration continues its assault on science and higher education. Trump and his team decimate years of life-saving research through mass layoffs and abrupt funding cuts — interrupting progress and halting discoveries on the verge of a breakthrough. In Philadelphia, we have seen universities targeted, ostensibly for their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and many researchers and federal employees have lost grants and jobs. Even greater losses are expected if Congress approves the sweeping science cuts outlined in Trump's proposed budget, now under consideration. This is a moment of urgent action. Protests and rallies are important, but they are not enough. We need our federal and state elected officials to hear from you, their constituents, about how the Trump administration's anti-science policies are affecting your lives — and livelihoods. Equally as important, we need them to tell us firsthand how they plan to stand up to the Trump administration and protect the scientific community in Philadelphia. We are the group that brought 20,000 people together for the March for Science in 2017 under the first Trump administration and put on the Stand Up for Science rally earlier this year. Like many in the Philadelphia area, our work at Philadelphia Science Action (PSA) and lives have flourished because of the vibrant science and higher education community. Philadelphia is known for its 'eds and meds', a city home to academic institutions, health system, and biotech companies. All are crucial to a thriving economy in the Philadelphia region, as there are over 1,200 life sciences companies, close to 40 hospitals and health systems, and over 100 colleges and academic universities. Our livelihood, progress and innovative spirit depend on the health and science sectors thriving. Which is why our organization, Philadelphia Science Action (PSA), is hosting a Science Town Hall with our Pennsylvania elected officials. PSA's mission is 'to promote science and scientific thinking for the advancement of society, and to champion evidence-based thinking and political dialogue.' We are the group that brought 20,000 people together for the March for Science in 2017 under the first Trump administration and put on the Stand Up for Science rally earlier this year. We are demanding that our elected representatives take up the challenge of defending science in Greater Philadelphia by bringing the conversation to them. In partnership with the Science History Institute, Skype A Scientist and Start Talking Science, we are hosting a Science Town Hall at the Science History Institute from 6 to 8 pm on May 29. Make your voice heard by speaking directly to your representatives As our congressional representatives consider Trump's proposed budget — the blueprint for enacting his domestic agenda — they must recognize the grave consequences of allowing science and innovation to be gutted. Thus far, Congress has failed to adequately protect our region, confirming cabinet appointees and placing our nation's health and future in the hands of those openly hostile to the public sector. Equally urgent is the responsibility of our state and local leaders to step up and strengthen support for science, research and innovation here at home. As national leaders in research and innovation, Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania should be at the forefront of efforts to protect the freedom and sustainability of American science and higher education — not only because our region's economic strength and cultural vitality depend on it, but because we have long stood at the vanguard of advancing the public good through science. That's why it's so important for the Philadelphia community to show up, speak out and get the answers they deserve. The Science Town Hall will provide an opportunity for scientists, researchers, students, educators, clinicians, entrepreneurs and the community direct access to the elected officials who represent them. Attendees will have an open forum to voice concerns, ask questions and discuss with policymakers how they are supporting the Philadelphia scientific community. This is our chance to help shape the future of science, technology, engineering/education, math/medicine in Philadelphia and to influence the policies needed to protect our scientific community.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Voltaire's take on the ‘Utah Way'
Darci Stone holds a sign during the Stand Up For Science protest at the Utah State Capitol on the last day of the legislative session, Friday, March 7, 2025. (Photo by Alex Goodlett for Utah News Dispatch) Perhaps the most eloquent summation of America in the age of Donald Trump comes from the famous quote of eighteenth-century French Enlightenment philosopher and acerbic social critic François-Marie Arouet, known by his pen name as Voltaire. He wrote, 'Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.' Trump has been dragging this country into a land littered with 'absurdities' and non-reality since he rode down the escalator in 2015. Now in his second term, teamed up with apex predator and wolf in DOGE clothing, Elon Musk, those absurdities are in full bloom as authoritarian, Nazi-saluting moral atrocities. Public protests have sprung up throughout the country on almost every move Trump and Musk have made. One of the most important protest movements, but least publicized, is 'Stand Up for Science.' I attended the rally in Salt Lake City on March 8 along with hundreds of other Utahns. But next time the attendance should be hundreds of thousands. Two weeks ago, new director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, announced that EPA's mission would be flipped on its head, i.e. it would no longer be to protect human life, public health and our air, water, and environment from contamination, but to 'lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business.' Even from an economic standpoint this is an absurdity. On average the economic benefits to EPA regulations established through the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act have been about 30 times the cost to industry of complying with those regulations. Even the narrowest of interpretations of that equation finds a 3-to-1 benefit ratio. It is primarily thanks to EPA regulations on smoke stack and tail pipe emissions that Utah's particulate pollution (PM2.5) has generally improved in the last 20 years (although that improvement is being eroded by more wildfire pollution). A recent study from Utah scientists estimated that up to 8,000 Utahns die, and economic losses are up to $3.3 billion a year, due to current levels of pollution. Voltaire would have cringed at Zeldin boasting the EPA will do its part to 'power the great American comeback.' Comeback to what? More dead and sick Utahns and more economic losses? Even if you assign no economic value to your own health, quality of life, or life expectancy, fossil fuel generated energy is now more expensive than clean energy. On the EPA's official website, Zeldin boasts, 'We are driving a dagger through the heart of the climate change religion.' A MAGA cultist slandering the most important scientific reality in human history as a 'religion' is right from the authoritarian play book: accuse your opposition of the very atrocities you're committing. Over 99.9% of climate research dating back to 1807, has confirmed an accelerating climate crisis from increasing atmospheric CO2. It's been declared the greatest public health threat of the 21st century by the world's top 200 medical journals. Even the oil industry's scientists identified looming catastrophic global warming with 'shocking skill and accuracy' as early the 1970s. As we all know, the industry betrayed their own science, deciding that saving humanity would not interfere with quarterly profits. That Musk promotes himself as a scientific genius while spearing heading some of the most anti-science delusions infecting the Trump Administration is particularly galling. Trump's entire cabinet, their party's Congressional majorities, and even some Democrats have for years personified the scientific absurdity and moral atrocity warned about by Voltaire. For their part, our legislature keeps telling themselves that Utah is the best managed state in the nation. The 25,000-80,000 Utahns that died in the last decade from our air pollution might think otherwise. Our legislature is also disconnected from the wishes of their undead constituency, with their ongoing determination to wrest control of public lands away from the federal government, and to immunize Utah against mythical 'federal regulatory overreach.' A Colorado College annual poll found that 76% of Utahns want their leaders 'to place more emphasis on protecting water, air, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities over maximizing the amount of land available for drilling and mining.' Fifty-seven percent 'oppose giving state government control over national public lands,' such as forests, monuments, and wildlife refuges. Nearly two thirds support government action 'to reduce carbon pollution that contributes to climate change.' Yet our leaders persist in doing the opposite. For example, Utah has spent your tax dollars fighting the 'Good Neighbor Rule' which would have required reducing pollution from our coal power plants that send death and disease over to Colorado, as if those lives mean nothing. How does anyone square that moral failure with the Parable of the Good Samaritan whose virtue so many of our legislators hear extolled in their church services? If Voltaire targeted his pen on the vaunted 'Utah Way' in the era of Donald Trump, I'm pretty sure he would say, 'Yup, nailed it.'
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Protests against Trump and Musk spring to life — with a mass demonstration set for April 5
As President Trump and Elon Musk continue their plan to dramatically reshape the federal government, a growing protest movement is emerging to try to stop them. Over the past few days, thousands of people have gathered to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York castigate the current administration. 'We will not allow America to become an oligarchy,' Sanders told a crowd of 34,000 in Denver. 'This nation was built by working people, and we are not going to let a handful of billionaires run the government.' At five stops in three states — Arizona, Colorado and Nevada — Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez drew crowds that exceeded expectations. The rallies by the two high-profile politicians have proven to be the biggest demonstrations of the first months of Trump's second term, but numerous others have been popping up nationwide. On March 7, a 'Stand Up for Science' rally drew thousands of people to Washington, D.C., and other cities to demand a restoration of federal scientific funding cut by the Trump administration. Yet compared with the Women's March of 2017, which drew millions of citizens to the streets the weekend after Trump's first-term inauguration to protest what many saw as the newly elected president's pattern of sexist rhetoric, the second-term protests have, so far, been much smaller. To hear Musk tell it, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the advisory group Trump has tasked him to lead, is playing a crucial role in addressing what Republicans see as out-of-control spending. 'The country is going bankrupt,' Musk said last week in an interview with Fox News in reference to the growing national debt. 'If we don't do something about it, the ship of America is going to sink.' But in response to Musk's efforts to slash the federal workforce and pare back popular social programs, so-called Tesla Takedown protests have entered their fifth week at Tesla dealerships across the country. On Saturday, hundreds gathered at Tesla dealerships in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Texas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and multiple other states. Organizers are planning a 'global day of action' at Tesla dealerships on March 29. 'Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup,' reads the text on a website that says it 'empowers individuals and groups to organize for progressive causes.' The protests against Musk's actions as the head of DOGE have sometimes turned violent. Over the weekend, the FBI issued an alert warning that acts of vandalism, including gunfire, have occurred at Tesla dealerships in at least nine states. The FBI warned citizens to 'exercise vigilance' and to 'look out for suspicious activity' on or around dealership locations. On Monday, the agency announced it was creating a task force to investigate recent attacks on the company. "The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X. "This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice." Tesla Takedown organizers, however, have distanced themselves from any acts of vandalism. 'Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly,' Action Network said on its website. Another test of the strength of the protest movement against Trump will come on April 5, when a coalition of liberal groups is planning nationwide demonstrations, including one at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. 'Donald Trump and Elon Musk think this country belongs to them. They're taking everything they can get their hands on, and daring the world to stop them,' Indivisible, the organization running the so-called Hands Off! protests, said in a social media post.' Will the demonstrations draw enough people to have an impact on Trump's agenda? Not according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. 'Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years," Leavitt told USA Today last week in a statement. "President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country who overwhelmingly reelected him.' Are you an educator? What do you think about Trump's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education? Yahoo News is asking teachers, administrators and other school staff around the country for their reactions to President Trump's order and how closing the Department of Education would affect their schools and students. Let us know what you think in our form, here.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fired federal workers keep up pressure to regain jobs as courts order them rehired
Myles McManus (top left) holds a sign for NOAA during a Stand Up for Science rally on the Arkansas Capitol steps on March 7, 2025. (Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate) Since being fired last month amid efforts to slash the federal workforce, Christopher Ford has been hopeful about getting his job back at the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks. Ford's hopes were bolstered Thursday when a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to immediately reinstate jobs for thousands of probationary federal workers — employees who had been recently hired or promoted. 'It's a good feeling,' he said. 'I'm very happy about this, and I'm excited that other people are seeing exactly what I saw — that how they conducted this was illegal.' The Trump administration swiftly appealed the ruling, which directed the rehiring of tens of thousands of workers in various federal agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs. A second federal judge late Thursday also ordered probationary workers to be reinstated. Though the appeals process could take time, Ford said he's confident the courts will ultimately deem the administration's actions illegal. Beyond the shock of being fired, Ford was frustrated by his termination letter citing poor performance because he said he's never been disciplined and has consistently received positive appraisals. 'That impacts me being able to get a federal job in the future,' he said. 'As someone who's done 13-and-a-half years of federal service, I'm committed.' The Florida native's experience includes nine years of active military duty and three deployments to the Middle East. He moved to Arkansas in 2019 and worked in a remote position until he was hired as an Equal Employment Opportunity program manager last June. Having invested so much time as a federal worker, Ford said he'd prefer to remain in the federal workforce for a few more years to earn a pension. The Northwest Arkansas resident said he'd take his job back 'in a heartbeat' because he loved what he did and working with veterans. 'The VA fit me and I understood, and it was an honor and privilege working for all the people I worked with,' he said. 'That's why for me, I just want my job back.' To assist in that goal, Ford filed a complaint over his firing with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. But there's been little movement on that front, he said, which is why he's grateful to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) for joining other organizations in suing the Office of Personnel Management. Federal actions threaten Arkansans' employment, more job cuts expected AFGE Local 2201 is hosting a rally at noon Saturday at VHSO's Fayetteville campus, which Ford said he'll attend. Local union President Bruce Appel said they began planning the rally prior to the Department of Veterans Affairs announcing last week a reorganization that will include cutting 80,000 jobs. The announcement just 'added fuel to the fire,' Appel said. 'Our focus of the rally is going to be to try to get the public to understand that what they read in the news about all these federal employees getting cut and getting their jobs screwed with, hey, it's going to impact our ability to take care of grandpa when he comes to our hospital,' Appel said. 'That this has real consequences to their lives, and I'm not sure that the general public is really understanding that.' Amid the chaos and confusion of the last few months, protesting has become an accessible form of action for fired federal workers like Myles McManus, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data scientist working in Tulsa who participated in a Stand Up for Science rally at the Arkansas state Capitol last week while he was passing through town. McManus, who grew up in Alabama, has about eight years of experience working for the federal government and was hired for his most recent position nearly 11 months ago. He was fired on Feb. 27. 'These cuts are putting NOAA under the weather, and I'm sick about it,' he said. The long-term effects of the federal workforce reduction is a concern for McManus, who said accurate, accessible datasets are needed for research and studies that can help predict things like 100-year floodplains. While it's been a challenging time for many federal workers, McManus said the upheaval has provided an opportunity for the scientific community to rally and help the public understand how much science affects their lives — from weather forecasts to how fish get into their recreational lakes. 'NOAA is an organization that does premiere scientific work that's used worldwide, and its primary strength are the people that work there,' he said. 'So to minimize NOAA's efforts to bring commerce and science to the American people by going after the scientists that work there, in a way that is kind of blindsiding and a detriment to what public service is all about.' McManus has secured a new job, but said he'd like to go back to NOAA because 'the agency will need people who can sustain any attacks on scientific integrity,' and he feels called to provide that service. 'It's not about the job availability on the private side, it was about doing something beyond just the monetary value, doing something beyond myself, and so losing that hurts in a way that getting another job for more money can't replace,' he said. An estimated 650 NOAA workers have been fired nationally, and 1,000 more are on the chopping block. NOAA falls under the Department of Commerce, which was included in the second lawsuit ruled on by judges Thursday. The department was also sued over improper terminations in a separate lawsuit filed Tuesday. 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