Particle.news
Download on the App Store
27 ARTICLES
·
2w ago

NIH Scientists Issue Bethesda Declaration to Protest Trump Administration’s Research Cuts

Bhattacharya is set to face Senate scrutiny over the plan to reduce agency funding by roughly 40 percent

Image
On Monday, NIH staffers published a letter of dissent they called the "Great Bethesda Declaration."
Image
Jenna Norton, an employee at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, sits for a portrait in Bethesda, Maryland, U.S., June 8, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Overview

  • More than 340 current and recent NIH employees signed the Bethesda Declaration denouncing policies that have terminated over 2,100 research grants worth about $9.5 billion and $2.6 billion in contracts since January 2025
  • Signatories warn that abrupt grant cancellations have halted clinical trials without regard for participant safety, citing cases such as a multidrug-resistant tuberculosis study in Haiti and nearly completed cancer research
  • The letter accuses the administration of politicizing research by undermining peer review, capping indirect costs at 15 percent and disrupting international collaborations
  • Director Jay Bhattacharya defends the reforms as necessary to eliminate ideological influence and strengthen accountability and has stated that respectful dissent is productive
  • Bhattacharya will testify Tuesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee to justify the proposed cuts and respond to calls for restoring delayed or terminated grants