Sixteen state general prosecutors presented a lawsuit Against the Trump Administration on Friday for its cancellation of research grants from the National Health Institutes (NIH).
The lawsuit, filed at the United States District Court for the Massachusetts district, argues that the cancellation of subsidies is “illegal” and general prosecutors “seek relief due to unconceptionable and intentional delays that currently affect the process of application of subsidies.”
The defendants appointed in the lawsuit include the NIH, almost all the 27 institutes and centers of the NIH, NIH director, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The NIH told ABC News that it does not comment on pending litigation. The HHS did not immediately respond to the request for comments from ABC News.
“Once again, the Trump administration is putting the policy with public health and risking lives and livelihoods in the process,” said New York Attorney, Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs in demand. statement. “Millions of Americans depend on the research institutions of our nation for treatments and priests to diseases that devastate families every day.”
The William H. Natcher building on the National Health Institutes Campus in Bethesda, MD.
Scott J. Ferrell/CQ-Roll Call, INC through Getty Images
“The decision to reduce these funds is an attack against science, public health and medical innovation, and I will not defend it. We are demanding to restore these critical funds because the people of New York and the whole nation deserve something better,” the statement continued.
In recent weeks, active research subsidies related to studies involving LGBTQ+problems, gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have been canceled in the NIH because they supposedly do not serve the “priorities” of the administration of President Donald Trump.
At the end of March, more than 900 subsidies for millions of dollars have ended, a NIH official with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be appointed, ABC News.
In previous termination letters, seen by ABC News, they affirm that “research programs based on gender identity are often not scientific, they have little return of identifiable investment and do nothing to improve the health of many Americans. Many of these studies ignore, instead of seriously examining biological realities. It is NIH’s policy not to prioritize these research programs.”
“The premise … is incompatible with the agency’s priorities, and no modification of the project could align the project with the agency’s priorities,” the letters continue.
The plaintiffs argue that the terminations, “if they are left without control,” could cause “direct, immediate, significant and irreparable damage to the plaintiffs and their public research institutions.”
General prosecutors are looking for a preliminary and permanent court order asking the defendants to review the delayed requests and prevent them from carrying out subsidies.
Earlier this week, investigators who had subsidies worth millions of dollars ending by the NIH sued the agency, HHS, Bhattacharya and Kennedy hoping to stop any greater research cancellation.
