A coalition of health researchers, unions and other stakeholders filed a lawsuit Wednesday challenging the abrupt cancellation of billions of dollars in research grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as unconstitutional. <\/p>\n
The coalition, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), argues the administration\u2019s \u201congoing ideological purge of hundreds of critical research projects\u201d violates federal law and asks a court to stop the cancellations and order the funding restored. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts district court, said there was no \u201cscientifically-valid explanation or cause\u201d for the NIH to cancel the research projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The NIH attempted to justify the first wave of its sweeping grant cancellations by citing connections to \u201cgender identity\u201d or \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d (DEI), without defining these terms or explaining how they apply to the terminated research.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The agency “has not highlighted any genuine concerns with the rigor of projects or any underlying data; in a matter of weeks it has just declared them all \u2018unscientific,\u2019\u201d the lawsuit stated. <\/p>\n
As a result, \u201cscientific advancement will be delayed, treatments will go undiscovered, human health will be compromised, and lives will be lost,\u201d the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit was filed against the NIH and its director, Jay Bhattacharya, as well as the Department of Human and Health Services and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NIH\u2019s efforts to shut down research that so much as references LGBTQ people or racial minorities is a direct attack on public health. By censoring studies that include these populations, they are also undermining critical research on cancer, HIV, and Alzheimer\u2019s \u2014 diseases that affect us all,\u201d Olga Akselrod, senior counsel at the ACLU Racial Justice Program, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
The lawsuit said more than $2.4 billion in grants have been canceled already, and researchers fear more are coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Those with grants that have yet to be cancelled wonder if they are soon to receive another vague, boilerplate termination letter,\u201d the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n
The grants were canceled after NIH staff were directed to eliminate research the administration deemed to be connected to topics including gender identity or DEI, but also any grants about vaccine hesitancy, COVID and studies involving entities located in South Africa and China. <\/p>\n
The NIH has terminated at least 678 research projects, including some that the agency “is statutorily required to research,\u201d the lawsuit said. <\/p>\n
These include projects on breast cancer, Alzheimer\u2019s disease, HIV prevention and suicide prevention.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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