NIH funding crisis that you do not know about

quote[The "stagnated" budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), now entering its 4th straight year of flat-funding, is creating a "looming crisis" that is forcing scientists to downsize labs and abandon innovative work, and alienating the next generation of young researchers, a panel of university officials and senior researchers told Congress yesterday (March 19).

"Promising research is now being slowed or halted," said Edward Miller, dean of Johns Hopkins Medicine. "We are seeing veteran scientists spending time not in labs but on the fundraising circuit. We are seeing young researchers quitting academic research in frustration, having concluded that their chances of having innovative research funded by NIH are slim to none," Miller told a Capitol Hill news conference yesterday.

The scientists released a report prepared by 20 leading researchers from a consortium of nine academic institutions and universities, that outlines the benefits of increased NIH funding on biomedical innovations, and warns of the negative implications should the present budget be left unaddressed. The report cited threats from unexpected new diseases, such as SARS and pandemic influenza, as well as obesity, HIV, and bioterrorism.]

Actually, you may know about this, but it's important to get the word out.