Trump just did a scary thing for science research. He put a freeze on communications and travel for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the parent body for government organizations like the NIH and the FDA and the CDC. But also a whole bunch more. I'll show you the full memo and email and you can pause and read it if you want. Here's the memo. Here's the email. There was supposed to be a CDC report released today on the growing bird flu outbreak. Cancelled. Yesterday, there was supposed to be a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council Cancelled. Who cares if evil bacteria kill us all? Clearly a partisan issue. Now you could say that this is just a delayed while he gets everything in place to improve all of these different systems and organizations. But he also canceled all of the meetings and panels that approve NIH grants for biomedical research topics like cancer and heart disease and diabetes and a whole lot more. The messaging halt is until February 1st, but the travel ban is indefinite. Imagine you're a young scientist who has spent the last five years researching a a new method for treating breast cancer. After many rejections, you were finally accepted as a keynote speaker in a new conference, where you get to present your research to the scientific community, and they can learn from you and maybe develop new treatments of their own. If the talk goes well, maybe you'll get a professorship at your university, or new funding for more research. Sorry, you're not allowed to travel to your conference. Good luck next time, if there is one. There are many problems with the current systems in place for funding and publishing scientific research. We can talk about them, come up with ways to fix them. thought out and solidly grounded in data, not politics. Even flawed, the current system has led to amazing scientific breakthroughs that are improving all of our lives on a daily basis. Every day it's on pause is a day that we will never get back.
Additional notes
📝 Full Text of the Memo: As the new Administration considers its plan for managing the federal policy and public communications processes, it is important that the President's appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any regulations, guidance documents, and other public documents and communications (including social media). Therefore, at the direction of the new Administration and consistent with precedent, I am directing that you immediately take the following steps through February 1, 2025: 1. Refrain from sending any document intended for publication to the Office of the Federal Register until it has been reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee. Please note that the Office of the Executive Secretary (Exec Sec) withdrew from OFR all documents that had not been published in the Federal Register to allow for such review and approval. 2. Refrain from publicly issuing any document (e.g., regulation, guidance, notice, grant announcement) or communication (e.g., social media, websites, press releases, and communication using listservs) until it has been reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee. Refrain from participating in any public speaking engagement until the event and material have been reviewed and approved by a Presidential appointee. 3. Coordinate with Presidential appointees prior to issuing official correspondence to public officials (e.g., members of Congress, governors) or containing interpretations or statements of Department regulations or policy. Nothing in this guidance is intended to limit an employee's personal correspondence with members of Congress or other third parties, including an employee's whistleblower protected communications. 4. Notify Exec Sec promptly of any documents or communications that you believe should not be subject to the directives in paragraphs 1-4 because they are required by statute or litigation; affect critical health, safety, environmental, financial, or national security functions of the Department; or for some other reason. Please provide the title, a brief summary, the target release date, and the rationale for expedited release to your Exec Sec Policy Coordinator. #science #health #news
References
- Source named in caption/body: full text of the memo quoted in the video caption. No direct source URL was listed in the workbook row.
- Sources named in transcript: HHS, NIH, FDA, CDC, CDC bird flu report, Presidential Advisory Council meeting, and NIH grant review meetings/panels. No direct source URLs were listed in the workbook row.