Researchers say a new Trump rule could destroy American science as we know it

Summary

Scientists are raising the alarm over a White House proposal that would give political appointees control over federal scientific grants.
The rule would end the longstanding peer review process for grantmaking and ban research on diversity and gender topics.
Researchers warn the changes could harm fields from cancer treatment to climate science and set American research back years.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

Scientists across multiple disciplines are sounding the alarm after the White House proposed taking greater control over how scientific research gets funded and allowing political appointees to decide whether to approve scientific grants.

Critics of the proposed rule say it would codify the administration’s attempts to destroy the scientific research enterprise in the US that has led to remarkable discoveries on treating cancer, HIV and rare diseases — as well as understanding weather and climate science and developing artificial intelligence. It could have far-reaching implications on what kinds of research topics get studied in the first place.

One of the main casualties in OMB’s proposal would be the country’s longstanding scientific peer review process for grantmaking. Peer review has been widely used since the post-World War II research boom, and relies on panels of experts in their fields judging federal funding decisions on the scientific merit of the grant proposals, rather than any politically-motivated criteria.