Scientists rally in US cities to protest Trump cuts

by Charlotte CAUSIT

Scientists rallied in cities across the United States on Friday to denounce efforts by the administration of US President Donald Trump to eliminate key staff across multiple agencies and curb life-saving research.

Since Trump returned to the White House, his government has cut federal research funding, withdrawn from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, and sought to dismiss hundreds of federal workers working on health and climate research.

In response, researchers, doctors, students, engineers and elected officials took to the streets in New York, Washington, Boston, Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin to vent their fury at what they see as an unprecedented attack on science.

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"I have never been so angry," said Jesse Heitner, a researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who joined more than 1,000 people demonstrating in the US capital.

"They're lighting everything on fire," Heitner told AFP at the Lincoln Memorial.

He felt particularly incensed about the appointment of noted vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services.

"If you put someone in charge of NASA who's a 'Flat Earther,' that's not okay," he said.

- 'Inexcusable' -

"Fund science, not billionaires" and "America was built on science," read some of the signs brandished at the Washington protest.

"What's happening now is unprecedented," said Grover, a university researcher in his 50s who declined to provide further personal details due to professional constraints.

Dressed in a white lab coat and wielding a pink sign that read "Stand Up for Science," he told AFP his employer had urged staff to keep a low profile, fearing financial retribution in the form of suspended or cancelled federal grants.

"I've been around research over 30 years, and what's going on has never happened," he said, adding that the "inexcusable" actions by the federal government would have "long-term repercussions."

- Brain drain? -

Many researchers told AFP about their fears about the future of their grants and other funding.

The suspension of some grants has already led some universities to reduce the number of students accepted into doctoral programs or research positions.

For those just getting started in their careers, the concern is palpable.

"I should be at home studying, instead of having to be here defending my right to have a job," said Rebecca Glisson, a 28-year-old doctoral student in neuroscience.

Glisson is due to defend her thesis at her program in Maryland next week, but feels apprehensive about her future beyond that, as funding for the laboratory she had planned to work for has been cut.

Chelsea Gray, a 34-year-old environmental scientist working on shark preservation, had dreamed of working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the federal agencies under particular threat over its climate research.

Instead, she has begun the process of obtaining an Irish passport.

"I did everything right and set myself up for success, and I've watched my entire career path crumble before my eyes," Gray told AFP.

"I want to stay and serve the United States as a United States citizen," she said.

"But if that option is not available to me, I need to keep all doors open."