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The U.S. biomedical infrastructure has been hobbled by deep medical research and personnel cuts. That’s on top of previously approved grants now being withheld for 2026 and 2027.

This attack by President Donald Trump and Republicans has left research institutions unable to plan, and researchers unable to do their work, prompting some to leave the United States. France has just offered investigators a “safe” haven to conduct medical and scientific research. And this comes at a time when 10,000 federal Department of Health and Human Services employees have been laid off, and $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts have been cancelled.

These acts slow or abolish research on cures/treatments for infectious diseases, cancers including leukemia, cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, gene therapies, drug development and more, thus affecting everyone.

On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill, recommending a net $400 million increase for the National Institutes of Health. In essence, this represents flat funding or modest cuts for other research and public health research agencies. The House is expected to take action in September. The need for advocacy is now urgent.

We urge all readers to write or call their elected officials urging them to see that the Senate and House Appropriations Committees put the monies back into science and personnel to restore ongoing medical research and maintain our current global science and medical research leadership. If not, our research-healthcare system will be severely damaged and new therapies will be nonexistent with millions of lives threatened.

Published Sept. 1, 2025

In response to proposals for new nuclear power plans, and the Times Union support of it, let me offer some caveats. As a retired civilian employee of the naval nuclear program, I know that nuclear power can be safe and effective. However, it will always be more expensive.

Because of inherent dangers, designs require built-in safeguards, training must be rigorous, and materials need to be highest quality and extensively tested. All systems need backups. Employees must be........

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