"On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, on the Anniversary of the Bethesda Declaration, Bethesda Declaration Organizers released "Bethesda Declaration: One Year Later," a document outlining the damage caused to the NIH and the Nation’s scientific infrastructure by this Administration’s harmful policies. In the wake of a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would codify the damaging policies of the past 18 months, this review provides an in-depth view of the damage caused by such policies.
"This account is an update and expansion of the concerns that were stated in the June 9, 2025, Bethesda Declaration, an open letter to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD. The Declaration raised five concerns about the actions taken in the first six months of the Administration, and was signed by more than 600 NIH staff and 32,000 external scientists, patients, and members of the general public.
"Since the release of the Bethesda Declaration, the status of NIH has only worsened. The Bethesda Declaration: One Year Later provides evidence that current NIH policies continue to cause havoc in the US scientific enterprise, impeding the NIH mission and risking public health. Specifically, the report details how each of these concerns continues to impact NIH."
Read the full announcement on the 27 UNIHTED website. "27 UNIHTED is the NIH Alumni Action Organization, composed of former NIH workers and community allies in their personal capacities supporting the NIH workforce and advocating for the future of biomedical research."
Read the DCSS news items on the current Trump administration proposed rule to insert political review into federal grant making.
See also, "Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants" (Nature, June 27) "Hundreds of grant applications to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) are being held up at any given time by unprecedented scrutiny after peer review. Some have been flagged by an algorithm for using terms, such as ‘gender’ and ‘climate change’, that have been deemed not to conform with the priorities of the administration of US President Donald Trump."
