Ub Fights for Research Funds Cut By House
Posted on: Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 09:01 CDT
At the urging of a member who called the study a waste of taxpayer money, the House of Representatives has voted to block federal funding for a University at Buffalo research project. The study of marriages by Sandra Murray, a UB social psychologist, is one of two research projects that could lose their funding from the National Institute of Mental Health.
"Congress has an obligation to use taxpayer dollars responsibly. We have scarce resources that need to be focused on our most pressing mental health issues," Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, said in a statement after his amendment passed the House in late June.
Neugebauer's move has sparked a strong response from academic organizations, who argue the government should not meddle in decisions on scientific grants.
"Defunding meritorious grants on the floor of Congress is unjustified scientific censorship," said a statement from Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, which includes the mental-health institute.
Neugebauer's offensive has drawn national attention to the research conducted by Murray, a psychology professor who has worked at UB since 1996.
Her latest study earned her a $1.73 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, with $345,161 set to come in 2006.
"Our study has direct implications for mental-health issues," she said, noting that romantic relationships are intrinsically linked with physical and mental health.
The research ultimately would include 225 to 250 newlywed couples, recruited mainly as they pick up marriage licenses in area municipal clerks' offices.
"The broader implications are devastating for the scientific community, because that would put Congress in the position of deciding what specific research should be done," Murray said.
The second study, which was to receive $298,688 this year, is based at the University of Iowa and looks at perception and cognition in pigeons, Science magazine said.
Neugebauer said the two studies fall outside the institute's main mission of supporting "serious" mental health research.
Such groups as the American Psychological Association and the Association of American Universities fiercely lobbied against Neugebauer's latest amendment.
UB Provost Satish K. Tripathi said UB is working on the issue with area members of Congress, including Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R- Clarence.
"I'm really hopeful and confident that the peer-review process will prevail," Tripathi said.
Mike Brady, a Reynolds spokesman, noted that Neugebauer's amendment passed as a last-minute attachment to a spending bill.
Both Brady and Eric Burns, a spokesman for Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, D-Fairport, said they were confident negotiators in a House-Senate conference committee would drop the amendment.
e-mail: swatson@buffnews.com
Source: Buffalo News
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