Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Thousands Take To The Streets Around The Country To Press For Support For Science
Thousands of scientists and their supporters, feeling increasingly threatened by the policies of President Trump, gathered Saturday in Washington under rainy skies for what they called the March for Science, abandoning a tradition of keeping the sciences out of politics and calling on the public to stand up for scientific enterprise. (St. Fleur, 4/22)
Dressed in long sleeves and a sensible safari hat, Dr. Diane Brown carried a sign that read, 鈥淢y patients need science because lupus is not cured, juvenile arthritis is not cured 鈥 CANCER is not cured!鈥 Brown, a rheumatologist at Children鈥檚 Hospital Los Angeles, said she hadn鈥檛 attended any marches since President Trump took office at the beginning of the year. But on Saturday afternoon she joined thousands of others in downtown Los Angeles for the March for Science Los Angeles. The 52-year-old doctor said her sign had a special significance for her. Two of her patients were diagnosed with cancer last week. One was 8 years old. The other was just 4. (Netburn and Panzar, 4/22)
Among the movement鈥檚 goals: to push for evidence-based legislation and to communicate to the public the social and economic impacts of scientific research. Dr. [Diana] Sun, a dermatologist, and her son also hoped to change the public鈥檚 perception of scientists, who have long been portrayed as villains in movies and books like 鈥淔rankenstein,鈥 they said. (Hernandez and McKay, 4/22)
Biotech and pharma companies have been tiptoeing around the Trump administration, worried about proposals to regulate drug prices. But companies that are now marketing their 鈥渂old鈥 work in scientific discovery and developing new treatments largely lacked an official presence at the marches. (Joseph, 4/23)
Just hours after the Washington March for Science dispersed, organizers sent an email to demonstrators with the subject line, 鈥淲hat's next?鈥 鈥淥ur movement is just starting,鈥 the message read. It went on to urge marchers to take part in a 鈥渨eek of action,鈥 a set of coordinated activities that range from signing an environmental voting pledge to participating in a citizen science project. (Kaplan, 4/23)