Australia Rallies Against Cutbacks To Medical Research Funding

Last week, news that the Australian government was planning to slash the budget for medical research by more than half over the next three years leaked out and rocked the scientific community. Only one out of seven grants submitted to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Australia’s major funding body for medical research, is approved with at least another three deemed good enough for funding but ultimately rejected anyway due to lack of funds. With the potential upcoming cuts to medical funding, the NHMRC will only be able to fund one out of ten grants it reviews.

The gravity of this news cannot be understated. It is a sad disaster. Medical research is of prime importance especially when we take into account terrible disorders such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and infectious diseases which our generation has to face. Cutting funding means saying no to progress against fighting those diseases and the many others. It means leaving people who can be saved to die. Yes, it is a murderous decision.

Developmental biology will not be spared from those cuts. Important and possibly life-changing research related to stem cells, for instance, will be halted, discontinued or rejected, plain and simple. Who will be affected? Well, it could be me, you, your family or friends… it could be anyone.

If the government (elected by the people, for the people) does not realize that it is going to spill its own people’s blood by cutting medical research funding, then it is up to the people to send them a message. And so it did. Rallies were organized today in several major Australian cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide with more to follow in Perth, Darwin and Hobart later this week. A Twitter rally–that successfully trended #protectresearch, the Twitter hashtag adopted by the movement–was also carried out online.

I was at the Melbourne rally where an estimated 4000 demonstrators assembled in front of the State Library. Banners were everywhere, raised high up by outstretched arms, or rulers, meter rules or pipettes. Yes, scientists are an innovative bunch. “Medical research keeps my blood pumping,” “SOS: Save Our Science,” “Cut the nonsense, not the funding!” or “Gillard [the Australian prime minister], we’ll cure your dementia (no seriously… we will)!” were flung around.

Amidst the chorus of “Cures not cuts” and “research saves lives,” were a number of guest speakers. One of them was Nerissa Mapes, a 34-year-old woman who has been living with Parkinson’s disease for the past six years. She addressed the crowd with what was a poignant and deeply powerful speech. Her speech stressed on the important role scientists play in society. It was a wonderful way to remind us all that medical research is for the people. She concluded with this:

“There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease. But there is hope. And hope gives us courage. Don’t let them take this hope away from us.”

Medical research saves life. Cutting its funding is like handling death sentences at will.

For more information visit the Discoveries Need Dollars’ website, twitter or facebook page.

Image credit: strangehours (from flickr).

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