Dubious, agenda-driven studies on hot-button issues are draining funds from vital public-health research.
by Henry Miller and Jeff Stier
When Congress meddles in how federal agencies set research priorities and disburse grants, the scientific community is, understandably, distraught. But Congress is responsible for rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse at federal agencies, which sets up a fundamental conflict.
The administration's spending should come under special scrutiny when bureaucrats claim they don't have enough money to protect public health; while complaining of lack of funds, bureaucrats are squandering already allocated funds on research that is the subject of inter-agency squabbles.
In a concerted campaign, administration officials have bashed Congress for failing to provide funds needed to respond to the Zika-virus outbreak. At the National Press Club in May, the director of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden, issued dire warnings and pleaded for additional money from Congress for Zika-related research. He used words such as "unprecedented" and "extremely urgent."
In June, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the usually (and appropriately) apolitical director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease at the National Institutes of Health, said, "If we don't get the money, it's not [a] question of speed or not, it's a question of whether the [Zika] vaccine effort will be blunted or completely aborted." Also in June, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that federal health agencies are nearing the end of their reserves and need new funds from Congress immediately......To Read More....
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