Scientists, including Nobel laureates, warn in an open letter that the Trump administration's cuts to scientific research funding will deal a catastrophic blow to America's accumulated scientific and technological achievements.
Top US scientists have published
Top US Researchers Warn against 'Climate of Fear' Threatening Science | Scientific American
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/top-us-researchers-warn-against-climate-of-fear-threatening-science/
Hundreds of scientists accuse Donald Trump of censorship | The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/640664/science-censorship-trump-letter-climate-vaccine-national-academies
Since Donald Trump took office as president, scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have faced increasing pressure from the government, with NIH scientists being ordered to cancel business trips and halt public communication , research grant funding being drastically cut , and funding programs being halted.
In response, it has been reported that around 75% of American scientists are considering quitting the job or moving abroad.
About 75% of American scientists are considering quitting the job and moving abroad - GIGAZINE
In response to this situation, about 1,900 leading American scientists published an open letter warning that the Trump administration's actions against researchers are endangering the nation's health, economy, and national security. 'The Trump administration must end its all-out assault on American science,' the letter states.
The open letter was signed by members of the National Academies of Sciences , Engineering , and Medicine , including many Nobel Prize winners.
The full text of the open letter is as follows:
To the American people:
We all rely on science. Science has given us the smartphone in our pocket, the navigation system in our car, and life-saving medical care. We rely on engineers when we cross a bridge or board a plane. Businesses and farmers rely on science and engineering for product innovation, technological advances, and weather forecasts. Science helps humanity protect the planet and eliminate pollutants and toxins from our air, water, and food.
More than 80 years of smart government investments have built a research enterprise in this country that is the envy of the world. But astonishingly, the Trump Administration is destabilizing this enterprise by slashing research funding, firing thousands of scientists, blocking public access to scientific data, and pressuring researchers to change or abandon their work for ideological reasons.
The signatories of this open letter are members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine, representing America's top scientists, engineers, and medical researchers. We speak out as individuals. We sense real danger in this moment. We come from a range of political persuasions, but we are united as researchers in our desire to defend independent scientific inquiry. We are sending out this SOS to sound a clear warning that the nation's scientific enterprise is being decimated.
The Trump Administration has slashed funding to science institutions, terminated grants to scientists, cut funding for scientists' laboratories, and impeded international scientific collaboration. The funding cuts have forced research institutions to suspend research (including research into new disease treatments), lay off researchers, and stop enrolling students in graduate programs that are the pipeline for the next generation of scientists.
The Trump Administration's ongoing investigations of over 50 universities send a frightening message. Columbia University was recently informed that it would lose its federal funding if it did not adopt a disciplinary policy and neutralize academic departments targeted by the administration. The destabilization of dozens of universities puts higher education, and the research that these institutions conduct, at risk.
Science's mission to seek truth requires that scientists be independent of special interests, free to explore new questions, and honestly report their findings. The Trump Administration is destroying this independence through censorship. Using executive orders and financial threats, the Trump Administration is attempting to manipulate which research is funded or published, how results are reported, and what data and research findings the public has access to. The Trump Administration is trying to block research on topics it finds objectionable, such as climate change, vaccine safety, economic trends, and other findings that the Administration does not like.
There is an air of fear in the research community. Researchers, fearful of losing funding and job security, are removing their names from papers, abandoning their research, and rewriting grant applications and papers to remove scientifically accurate terms (such as 'climate change') that government agencies have flagged as inappropriate. While some in the scientific community have protested vocally, most researchers, universities, research institutes, and professional organizations have remained silent to avoid antagonizing the administration and putting their funding at risk.
If our research enterprise is dismantled, America would lose our scientific edge. Other countries would take the lead in developing new cures for diseases, clean energy sources, and the new technologies of the future. Foreign countries would then have healthier populations and would surpass America in our economy, business, defense, intelligence gathering, and monitoring of the health of the planet. The damage to America's scientific enterprise could take decades to repair.
We call on the Trump Administration to end its all-out attack on American science, and urge others to join us in this call. Share this statement with others, contact your congressional representatives, and help your communities understand what's at stake. The voice of science must not be silenced. We all benefit from science, and when the nation's research enterprise is destroyed, we all lose.
The views expressed here are our own and do not necessarily represent those of the National Academies or our alma mater's research institute.
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