Hundreds rally outside State House to ‘Stand Up for Science'
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the State House to protest the Trump administration's funding cuts to science research.
— Emily Spatz (@emilymspatz)
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Demonstrators at the rally, dubbed Stand Up for Science, started off the protest with chants including 'Science saves lives,' and 'Vaccines are awesome, imagine if we lost them.' Many held signs, including some reading 'Science makes America great' and 'Science funding pays for itself.'
They also sang the Stand Up for Science anthem to the tune of Woody Guthrie's 'This Land is Your Land,' with lyrics including 'Hear our entreaties; Cure diabetes; Science is good for you and me!'
The protest is taking place in Washington, D.C., as well as state capitals nationwide
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It was inspired by the 2017 March for Science, when millions of marchers worldwide took to the streets to protest the first Trump administration's policies that were viewed as hostile to science.
Riss Kell, a postdoctoral scientist at the Gloucester Marine Economics Institute who researches cancer treatments using marine organisms, said there is 'a lot of fear in the community.'
'Our institution is mainly funded by philanthropy and federal science funding. Without federal science funding, we can't work,' Kell said, holding a sign reading 'Federal science saves lives.' 'Without [these institutions], it benefits no one.'
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Many researchers at the protest said their projects had not been affected yet, but they were 'terrified' of what could happen.
'We're frozen in a state of not knowing what's happening. We're afraid to do anything moving forward,' said Becks Padrusch, who is a genetic researcher at UMass Chan Medical School. 'Nothing's happened yet, but not knowing is almost worse, because we're not sure what out future is gonna look like, and it's terrifying.'
Among the Trump administration's changes are a proposed NIH funding cap, which
The NIH announced last month it would slash the rate of
Eight years ago, the organizers of the March for Science were alarmed by Trump's statements denying climate change and his new administration's plan to slash billions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's largest funder of medical research.
This time, the Trump administration's rapid-fire changes and executive orders have made it easier to coalesce around specific goals, including:
Reinstating federal funding for scientific research; rehiring all unlawfully terminated scientists at federal agencies; prohibiting all forms of political censorship in scientific research, including restrictions on the topics of scientific research that are eligible for federal funding; restoring all scientific data, reports, and resources on federal websites, and restoring all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs within federal agencies to pre-January 1 status.
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Kay Lazar of the Globe staff contributed reporting.
Material from previous Globe stories was used in this report.
Emily Spatz can be reached at
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