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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

June 16, 2006

In this issue:

• Appropriations Update
• Inquiry into NIH handling of tissue samples
• FASEB Washington Update

Appropriations Update

The House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittees have now finished marking up the three bills that contain funding for the NIH, NSF, VA and NASA.

NIH

The Labor-HHS-Ed subcommittee followed the Administration's recommendation and set funding for the NIH at last year's level of $28.3 billion. In addition, the subcommittee included a provision in the bill that directs the NIH to require grantees to submit their manuscripts to PubMed Central no later than 12 months after publication.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/312/5780/1585a

NSF, NASA

The Science, State, Justice and Commerce subcommittee increased the budget for NSF by $439 million, bringing the agency's budget to $6 billion, the amount recommended by the Administration as part of the American Competitiveness Initiative. The same subcommittee funded NASA at $16.7 billion, an increase of $462 million over last year.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/614/3

VA

The Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs subcommittee allocated $412 million for VA medical and prosthetic research, an increase of $13 million over the Administration's request but the same amount that the agency received last year. An additional $12 million was added for construction.

Following approval in the full House of Representatives, these bills will be considered in the Senate.

House Energy and Commerce committee investigates NIH tissue handling policies

Earlier this week, members of Congress held two hearings to investigate allegations of conflict of interest violations by an NIH scientist. Because the case involved the transfer of clinical samples to Pfizer, significant questions have been raised about tissue and specimen handling at NIH. The scientist under investigation chose assert his Constitutional 5th amendment right and did not testify before the panel, but both the director of the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Director of Intramural Research answered questions about NIH practices and policies. Members of Congress questioned the witnesses extensively about current tissue handling practices, and whether there was an NIH-wide centralized database to catalog and keep track of samples as they are collected. They also asked about informed consent procedures, and whether the current policies provide adequate protection for patients who donated samples.

For more information, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301426.html

FASEB Washington Update

To see the latest FASEB Washington Update, go to:

http://opa.faseb.org/pages/Washingtonupdate/June906/

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