Journal of IiMER administration had promised more. To put this in perspective, the trade association of the pharmaceutical industry calculates that it costs $1.2 billion dollars to bring a new drug to market. Sadly that industry has not shown interest in ME, so the research is mostly funded by NIH and private groups and individuals. The news that the Trump administration is thinking of cutting the total NIH budget by $5 billion has caused a palpable anxiety to grip the ME community. The disease is cruel enough, does it need to be compounded by the government? That is why those who could manage it and members of their families were enthusiastic supporters of the March for Science. They were out there with a sense of being at the barricades as the barbarians massed on the other side. The United States has led the world for years in scientific discovery and implementation. It is deeply disturbing to think that the country would draw back from it. But the administration’s ambivalence is clear. The Department of Energy with 17 national laboratories, every one the envy of the world, is headed by Rick Perry. When he ran for president, he did so on a plank that included closing the department. The Environmental Protection Agency, with a history of struggling to get the regulatory science right, is headed by Scott Pruitt. As attorney general of Oklahoma, he sought to hobble the agency with lawsuits. So across science, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to the research service of the Department of Agriculture, there is fear among scientists; fear for their jobs, fear for science and fear for America. In the sick rooms of the 1 million or so ME sufferers, despondency has reached new depths. You will not be cured if no one cares enough to look for a cure. Can you double down on despair? www.investinme.org Page 35 of 82
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