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Bioscience Briefing

For info about biomedical funding, animal research and other bioscience issues, click here.

Science Policy Announcements

For the latest news from the APS Science Policy click here.

Resource Book Now Available

Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.

APS Science Policy Update

December 22, 2005

In this issue:

• Congress finalizes NIH funding for FY 2006
• Decision handed down in Dover, PA intelligent design case

Congress passes Labor-HHS-Education bill, NIH budget is cut On December 21, 2005, the Senate passed the Labor-HHS-Education bill that will fund the National Institutes of Health. The bill contained a $253 million increase for NIH, $100 million of which will be transferred to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, giving NIH a net increase of 0.5%. However, the Senate also passed the Defense Appropriations bill which contains a 1% across the board cut for all non-defense discretionary spending, including funding for biomedical research. This will result in NIH having approximately $200 million less in FY 2006 than in FY 2005, and give the agency the first budget cut since 1970. Both the Defense and Labor-HHS appropriations bills will be sent back to the House for procedural reasons, but funding levels are not expected to change.

To see FASEB president Bruce Bistrian's response, go to: http://opa.faseb.org/pdf/FY06%20Appropriations12.22.05.pdf

Decision handed down in Intelligent Design Case On December 20, 2005, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that the Dover area school district could not teach Intelligent Design (ID) as part of its science curriculum. Also included in the 138-page decision was a ruling that ID does not meet reasonable standards to be considered science. The landmark ruling is unlikely to be appealed by the school board as the ID proponents were voted off the board in last November's elections.

For more information, go to: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2005/1220/1

Happy Holidays to all!