CDC’s laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration

 Statnews has the story:

CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration
‘We are blind,’ researcher says, noting the lab is crucial to tracking drug-resistant gonorrhea and other diseases  By Helen Branswell April 5, 2025

"At a time when the world is down to a single drug that can reliably cure gonorrhea, the U.S. government has shuttered the country’s premier sexually transmitted diseases laboratory, leaving experts aghast and fearful about what lies ahead.

"The STD lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — a leading player in global efforts to monitor for drug resistance in the bacteria that cause these diseases — was among the targets of major staff slashing at the CDC this past week. All 28 full-time employees of the lab were fired.

...

"A CDC white paper on antibiotic resistance released during the first Trump administration listed drug-resistant gonorrhea as one of five urgent threats facing the country. Antimicrobial resistance to that last drug that reliably works to cure gonorrhea, ceftriaxone, is rare but on the rise globally."

 

Open letter on Science

 Here's the NYT story out this morning,

Trump Administration Has Begun a War on Science, Researchers. Say Nearly 2,000 scientists urged that Congress restore funding to federal agencies decimated by recent cuts.

 

And here's the letter (and all the signatures):
TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
We all rely on science. Science gave us the smartphones in our pockets, the navigation systems in our cars, and life-saving medical care. We count on engineers when we drive across bridges and fly in airplanes. Businesses and farmers rely on science and engineering for product innovation, technological advances, and weather forecasting. Science helps humanity protect the planet and keeps pollutants and toxins out of our air, water, and food.

For over 80 years, wise investments by the US government have built up the nation’s research enterprise, making it the envy of the world. Astoundingly, the Trump administration is destabilizing this enterprise by gutting funding for research, firing thousands of scientists, removing public access to scientific data, and pressuring researchers to alter or abandon their work on ideological grounds.

The undersigned are elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, representing some of the nation’s top scientists, engineers, and medical researchers. We are speaking out as individuals. We see real danger in this moment. We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.

The administration is slashing funding for scientific agencies, terminating grants to scientists, defunding their laboratories, and hampering international scientific collaboration. The funding cuts are forcing institutions to pause research (including studies of new disease treatments), dismiss faculty, and stop enrolling graduate students—the pipeline for the next generation’s scientists.

The administration’s current investigations of more than 50 universities send a chilling message. Columbia University was recently notified that its federal funding would be withheld unless it adopted disciplinary policies and disabled an academic department targeted by the administration. Destabilizing dozens of universities will endanger higher education—and the research those institutions conduct.

The quest for truth—the mission of science—requires that scientists freely explore new questions and report their findings honestly, independent of special interests. The administration is engaging in censorship, destroying this independence.  It is using executive orders and financial threats to manipulate which studies are funded or published, how results are reported, and which data and research findings the public can access. The administration is blocking research on topics it finds objectionable, such as climate change, or that yields results it does not like, on topics ranging from vaccine safety to economic trends.

A climate of fear has descended on the research community. Researchers, afraid of losing their funding or job security, are removing their names from publications, abandoning studies, and rewriting grant proposals and papers to remove scientifically accurate terms (such as “climate change”) that agencies are flagging as objectionable. Although some in the scientific community have protested vocally, most researchers, universities, research institutions, and professional organizations have kept silent to avoid antagonizing the administration and jeopardizing their funding.

If our country’s research enterprise is dismantled, we will lose our scientific edge. Other countries will lead the development of novel disease treatments, clean energy sources, and the new technologies of the future. Their populations will be healthier, and their economies will surpass us in business, defense, intelligence gathering, and monitoring our planet’s health. The damage to our nation’s scientific enterprise could take decades to reverse.

We call on the administration to cease its wholesale assault on U.S. science, and we urge the public to join this call. Share this statement with others, contact your representatives in Congress, and help your community understand what is at risk. The voice of science must not be silenced.  We all benefit from science, and we all stand to lose if the nation’s research enterprise is destroyed.  

The views expressed here are our own and not those of the National Academies or our home institutions.

Trans Forming Liberty. Amy Sherald at SFMOMA

 Sometimes politics make an artwork even more politically fraught than when it was painted.

 

 

 

Demonstrating for science (in Washington and elsewhere)

 Scientists are more accustomed to demonstrating science than demonstrating for science, but that may need to change.

Nature has the story:

NEWS, 03 March 2025
US science is under threat ― now scientists are fighting back
Researchers are organizing protests and making their voices heard as Trump officials slash funding and lay off federal scientists. By Heidi Ledford & Alexandra Witze 

"Across the United States, researchers are navigating uncomfortable territory. Repeated threats to research funding and the mass firings of federal workers have pushed some scientists to take on unfamiliar roles as activists, speaking at rallies, calling legislators and forming new pressure groups. “Historically, scientists have done a really bad job of advocating for their own activities,” says David Meyer, a sociologist at the University of California, Irvine. “So this is a new challenge.”

Unaccustomed role

The events of the past six weeks have compelled many scientists to embrace that challenge. Soon after the second inauguration of US President Donald Trump on 20 January, the new administration attempted to freeze payments on federal grants; announced that it would review and potentially cancel any grant that mentioned terms it deemed indicative of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes; and issued dramatic cuts to the overhead, or ‘indirect costs’, paid on projects funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

...

"For many scientists, the big event is coming up on 7 March, at ‘Stand Up for Science’ rallies slated to take place in 32 cities around the country. The main event, in Washington DC, is spearheaded by a group of five researchers, most of them graduate students, who came together to combat their own initial feelings of powerlessness. “It’s been inspiring, as this has grown, to see how many people were feeling the same way and to take action,” says Emma Courtney, a graduate student in biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York."

Politics, Physician Senators, and the Hippocratic Oath (regarding the confirmation of RFK Jr. as HHS secretary)

 Here's an opinion piece from MedpageToday

Physician Senators, What Have You Done?— They have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath in voting to confirm RFK Jr.   by Joseph V. Sakran, MD, MPH, MPA, and Samuel Okum, February 14, 2025 

"When Senator Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.) -- a physician, longtime advocate for healthcare policy, and potential swing vote on the Finance Committee -- voted to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of HHS, he didn't just make a political choice. He made a choice that undermines science, public health, and the very Hippocratic Oath he once swore to uphold.

"While Cassidy claims to have taken this decision "very seriously," he must know it is wrong. As a legislator, he understands that the HHS secretary oversees critical health institutions like the CDC, FDA, and CMS. As a doctor, he has firsthand knowledge of how these agencies impact patient care, from ensuring access to safe medications to shaping life-saving public health policies. Entrusting this role to Kennedy -- a man with no qualifications beyond his fame as a purveyor of medical disinformation -- isn't just reckless. It endangers us all. 

...

"Through his organization, Children's Health Defense, Kennedy has falsely linked vaccines to autismopens in a new tab or window, opposed COVID-19 safety measuresopens in a new tab or window, and promoted debunked medical treatmentsopens in a new tab or window. In 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate identified him as one of the "Disinformation Dozenopens in a new tab or window" -- a small group responsible for nearly two-thirds of anti-vaccine content circulating online. All of this suggests this promotion of falsehoods has eroded public trust in vaccines, contributing to preventable disease outbreaks and declining immunization ratesopens in a new tab or window.

"The consequences of his rhetoric have been deadly. In 2019, Kennedy traveled to Samoa to support an investigationopens in a new tab or window into routine childhood vaccinations. His visit coincided with a devastating measles outbreak that infected thousands and killed dozens of unvaccinated children. When confronted by the country's prime minister, Kennedy expressed no remorse. Instead, he baselessly suggested that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccineopens in a new tab or window itself may have been responsible for the deaths.

...

"

We believe Cassidy prioritized political expediency over medical integrity. He arguably chose to align himself with President Donald Trump and conspiracy rather than the national interest and public health.

Meanwhile, Cassidy set the stage for his physician colleagues -- Republican senators Roger Marshall, MD (Kan.), John Barrasso, MD (Wyo.), and Rand Paul, MD (Ky.) -- to follow suit. They have all betrayed their oath as doctors."

give yourself a scare

 Want to see something scary? 

Click here: 

The White House  https://www.whitehouse.gov/

Practical market design makes policy recommendations (which can violate NBER publication policy)

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) publishes a widely read series of working papers, before publication in refereed journals. They also distribute a list of papers that have been published in medical journals, since those journals don't allow prepublication in working papers.  For both these series the NBER has a rule against papers that make policy recommendations.

This is sometimes a problem for the field of market design, since practical market design is about finding ways to improve the operation of markets, which is a kind of policy advice. I encountered this recently with the two papers described below, published in medical journals, which apparently are too policy related: the policy being to save more lives by arranging more transplants, in this case of hearts and kidneys respectively. (Medical journals have their own conventions, but aren't opposed to advice on medical practice...)

I received the following email from the NBER, accompanied by a line of explanation for each paper.

The email began:

"I apologize for my belated response about your journal articles; while the subject matter is clearly vital, after review of the full-text, we determined that your articles make policy recommendations that are too specific for NBER’s policy on working papers (which we apply to papers in the article list)."

 It then continued by highlighting the offending sentences in each article:

1. Alyssa Power MD*, Kurt R. Sweat MA*, Alvin Roth PhD, John C. Dykes MD, Beth Kaufman MD, Michael Ma MD, Sharon Chen MD, MPH, Seth A. Hollander MD, Elizabeth Profita MD, David N Rosenthal MD, Lynsey Barkoff NP, Chiu-Yu Chen MD PhD, Ryan R. Davies MD, Christopher S. Almond MD, MPH, “Contemporary Pediatric Heart Transplant Waitlist Mortality,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Vol 84, no. 7, August 13, 2024: 620-632.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109724075624

"Policy language:  A more flexible allocation system that accurately reflects patient-specific risks and considers transplant benefit is urgently needed."

2. Vivek B. Kute, Himanshu V Patel, Subho Banerjee,Divyesh P Engineer, Ruchir B Dave, Nauka Shah, Sanshriti Chauhan ,Harishankar Meshram , Priyash Tambi  , Akash Shah, Khushboo Saxena,Manish Balwani , Vishal Parmar, Shivam Shah, Ved Prakash ,Sudeep Patel, Dev Patel, Sudeep Desai, Jamal Rizvi , Harsh Patel, Beena Parikh, Kamal Kanodia, Shruti Gandhi, Michael A Rees,  Alvin E Roth,  Pranjal Modi “Impact of single centre kidney-exchange transplantation to increase living donor pool in India: A cohort study involving non-anonymous allocation,”Nephrology, September 2024,https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nep.14380

"Policy language: We suggest stepwise progress to achieve multicentre, regional, State and then a National program. Ideally, there should be engagement by the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization and the World Health Organization. 

While we recommend simultaneous surgery for mDRPs in a single exchange, sometimes logistical aspects have necessitated non-simultaneous exchanges"

##########

Earlier posts:

Thursday, August 8, 2024  Pediatric Heart Transplants: rethinking the waitlist, by Power, Sweat...Almond et al.

 Wednesday, September 18, 2024 More on non-anonymous kidney exchange in India

Nobel prize in economics to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson

  "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2024 to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”

These three have a broad scope of work together.  One aspect that fits well with this year's prizes in Physics and Chemistry is a connection to artificial intelligence, particularly in the book Power and Progress by Acemoglu and Johnson:  

Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity  May 16, 2023 by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson 

Here's the blurb by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo

"One powerful thread runs through this breathtaking tour of the history and future of technology, from the Neolithic agricultural revolution to the ascent of artificial intelligence: Technology is not destiny, nothing is pre-ordained. Humans, despite their imperfect institutions and often-contradictory impulses, remain in the driver’s seat. It is still our job to determine whether the vehicles we build are heading toward justice or down the cliff. In this age of relentless automation and seemingly unstoppable consolidation of power and wealth, Power and Progress is an essential reminder that we can, and must, take back control."

Anger and Sadness in Tel Aviv

Saturday, on the last night of my just-ended visit to Israel, I attended two adjacent mass public events. 

One was a political demonstration against the leadership of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his governing coalition. The other was a vigil for the kidnapped hostages, living and dead.

In each of these two events, the one Hebrew word you heard more than any other was NOW (עכשיו).  As in "Elections NOW!"  or "Bring them home NOW!"

In the political demonstration, the primary mood expressed by the speakers was anger.  In the vigil, it was sadness.

Below some pictures and a video of a speech with added subtitles in English translation.

From the demonstration:

The signs say "Elections Now!"

The sign (addressed to Bibi) says: "You are the boss.
You are guilty"

From the vigil for the hostages:

Prepared to welcome the hostages home  to Shabbat dinner

x

And one bonus picture, on the road connecting the two gatherings, from the Women Who Wage Peace

Political leadership in NYC: Mayor Eric Adams on antisemitism

Elected officials with executive responsibilities have difficult jobs. The Mayor of NYC has to make sure that garbage is collected, that potholes are filled, that corruption is contained.  But political leaders also have an opportunity and a responsibility to address broader social problems, and from a distance I can appreciate that NYC Mayor Eric Adams is speaking out against hate, and not flinching from naming antisemitism as he sees it surge back into public view,

Remarks by Mayor Eric Adams | Central Synagogue | November 17, 2023

###########

Earlier (including the video of an earlier speech by Mayor Adams):

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Hamas, Gaza and American universities: more letters, and two speeches

Protest against political persecution of Prof Muhammad Yunus, and more general threats to democracy in Bangladesh

 The Bangladesh Daily Star publishes an open letter, and the NY Times provides some general background.

Here's the  open letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina:

‘Judicial harassment of Yunus’: 104 Nobel laureates, 79 global figures voice concern

"A total of 104 Nobel Laureates and 79 other global figures in an open letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday expressed concern about the safety and freedom of Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

...

"As you know, Prof Yunus' work, which has been inspirational to all of us, focuses on how social business can be a force for international progress resulting in zero poverty, zero unemployment, and zero net carbon emissions. He is a leading example of how Bangladesh and Bangladeshis have contributed to global progress in recent decades. We sincerely wish that he be able to continue his path-breaking work free of persecution or harassment.

...

"According to the case documents, officials of the Inspection for Factories and Establishments Department on August 16, 2021, inspected the office of Grameen Telecom in the capital's Mirpur and found several violations of labour laws.

"On June 6 this year, the court framed charges against the accused -- including Prof Yunus -- in the case. The trial began on August 22.

...

"In its review, the law firm said, "Professor Yunus is facing six months in prison for a crime that he not only did not commit, but that legally does not exist….Events are moving quickly in Bangladesh driven by a forthcoming election and a presumed desire to imprison Prof Yunus prior to that election….Not only are the allegations entirely without merit, but the legal process is wrong in law….A miscarriage of justice is happening in Bangladesh and the state must not be allowed to carry it to its conclusion."

"Following are the Nobel Laureates who are the signatories of the letter:

PEACE: Barack H. Obama, 2009; José Ramos-Horta, 1996; Mairead Corrigan-Maguire, 1976; Shirin Ebadi, 2003; Leymah Roberta Gbowee, 2011; Albert Arnold Gore Jr., 2007; Tawakkol Karman, 2011; Denis Mukwege, 2018; Nadia Murad, 2018; Maria Ressa, 2021; Oscar Arias Sanchez, 1987; Juan Manuel Santos, 2016; Rigoberta Menchu Tum, 1992; and Jody Williams, 1997.

CHEMISTRY: Peter Agre, 2003; Thomas R. Cech, 1989; Martin Chalfie, 2008; Emmanuelle Charpentier, 2020; Aaron Ciechanover, 2004; Johann Deisenhofer, 1988; Jacques Dubochet, 2017; Joachim Frank, 2017; Walter Gilbert, 1980; Alan Heeger, 2000; Richard Henderson, 2017; Dudley R. Herschbach, 1986; Avram Hershko, 2004; Roald Hoffmann, 1981; Robert Huber, 1988; Martin Karplus, 2013; Brian K. Kobilka, 2012; Yuan T. Lee, 1986; Robert J. Lefkowitz, 2012; Jean-Marie Lehn, 1987; Michael Levitt, 2013; Tomas Lindahl, 2015; Paul L. Modrich, 2015; John C. Polanyi, 1986; Jean-Pierre Sauvage, 2016; Sir John E. Walker, 1997; Arieh Warshel, 2013; and Sir Gregory P. Winter, 2018.

ECONOMICS: Oliver Hart, 2016; Finn E. Kydland, 2004; Paul R. Milgrom, 2020; Edmund Phelps, 2006; Alvin E. Roth, 2012; Vernon L. Smith, 2002; and Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001.

LITERATURE: J. M. Coetzee, 2003; Herta Muller, 2009; Orhan Pamuk, 2006; and Wole Soyinka, 1986.

MEDICINE: Harvey J. Alter, 2020; David Baltimore, 1975; Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, 2008; J. Michael Bishop, 1989; Elizabeth H. Blackburn, 2009; William C. Campbell, 2015; Peter C. Doherty, 1996; Jeffrey Connor Hall, 2017; Leland H. Hartwell, 2001; Jules A. Hoffmann, 2011; Tasuku Honjo, 2018; H. Robert Horvitz, 2002; Sir Michael Houghton, 2020; Craig C. Mello, 2006; Edvard Moser, 2014; May-Britt Moser, 2014; Sir Paul M. Nurse, 2001; Ardem Patapoutian, 2021; Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, 2019; Charles M. Rice, 2020; Sir Richard J. Roberts, 1993; Michael Rosbash, 2017; Gregg L. Semenza, 2019; Hamilton O. Smith, 1978; Jack W. Szostak, 2009; Harold E. Varmus, 1989; Eric F. Wieschaus, 1995; Torsten N. Wiesel, 1981; and Michael W. Young, 2017.

PHYSICS: Barry Clark Barish, 2017; Steven Chu, 1997; Andre Geim, 2010; Sheldon Glashow, 1979; David J. Gross, 2004; John L. Hall, 2005; Takaaki Kajita, 2015; Anthony J. Leggett, 2003; John C. Mather, 2006; Michel Mayor, 2019; Arthur B. McDonald, 2015; Konstantin Novoselov, 2010; Giorgio Parisi, 2021; James Peebles, 2019; Roger Penrose, 2020; William D. Phillips, 1997; H. David Politzer, 2004; Brian P. Schmidt, 2011; Horst L. Stormer, 1998; Daniel C. Tsui, 1998; Carl E. Wieman, 2001; and David J. Wineland, 2012."

********

The letter also appeared as an ad in the International edition of the New York Times:

*************

And here's the NY Times story: 

Quietly Crushing a Democracy: Millions on Trial in Bangladesh

The most active rivals to the country’s ruling party face dozens, even hundreds, of court cases each, paralyzing the opposition as a crucial election approaches. By Mujib Mashal 

"Bangladesh’s multiparty democracy is being methodically strangled in crowded courtrooms across this country of 170 million people.

"Nearly every day, thousands of leaders, members and supporters of opposition parties stand before a judge. Charges are usually vague, and evidence is shoddy, at best. But just months before a pivotal election pitting them against the ruling Awami League, the immobilizing effect is clear.

"About half of the five million members of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, are embroiled in politically motivated court cases, the group estimates. The most active leaders and organizers face dozens, even hundreds, of cases."

Argentine presidential politics, and monetary markets for kidneys

 The Financial Times reports on the surprising primary election performance of a far right candidate, Javier Milei.

Argentina radical rightwinger shakes up presidential race with primary win. by Ciara Nugent

"Javier Milei, a radical libertarian economist and outsider candidate, unexpectedly won Argentina’s primary poll, indicating a strong shift to the right as the South American country prepares to vote in a presidential election.

"Milei, a former television personality and one-term congressional representative who has called for extreme austerity and dollarising Argentina’s economy, won 30.1 per cent of the vote on Sunday, surpassing pollsters’ average forecast of 20 per cent, with 96 per cent of votes counted.

"That put his Freedom Advances party ahead of centre-right force Together for Change, with 28.3 per cent, and the ruling populist coalition Union for the Homeland, whose candidate is centrist economy minister Sergio Massa, which earned 27.2 per cent."

**********

I'm not a close follower of Argentine politics, but his name rang a bell, and reminded me that I had blogged about him in connection of his support for markets for kidneys. (There's no indication that was an issue in the presidential primaries...)

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

An unusual Argentine presidential candidate supports a monetary market for kidneys

The Cost of Inaction and the Urgent Need to Reform the U.S. Transplant System: participant statements

 Yesterday's Senate Finance committee hearings on The Cost of Inaction and the Urgent Need to Reform the U.S. Transplant System are on video, and the following witness statements (delivered beforehand) are now also available.

If you only have time to read one, I'd recommend clicking on the testimony of Matthew Wadsworth, the President And CEO of the OPO, Life Connection of Ohio.

Witnesses 

---

1. LaQuayia Goldring
   Patient
   Louisville , KY
   • Download Testimony
2. Molly J. McCarthy
   Vice Chair & Region 6 Patient Affairs Committee Representative
   Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)
   Redmond , WA
   • Download Testimony
3. Matthew Wadsworth
   President And CEO
   Life Connection of Ohio
   Kettering , OH
   • Download Testimony
4. Raymond J. Lynch, MD, MS, FACS
   Professor Of Surgery And Director Of Transplantation Quality And Outcomes
   Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
   Hershey , PA
   • Download Testimony
5. Donna R. Cryer, JD
   Founder And CEO
   Global Liver Institute
   Washington , DC

**********

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care --testimony on organ transplants, going on now