NIH Budget Plan Means Cutbacks For Biomedical Research

Bush asks for expansion in grants and minority training, but his 4.7% projected increase falls short of rising lab costs. WASHINGTON--Despite a budget that Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan says maintains an "unprecedented level of support" for biomedical research, the president's request for 1991 falls short of what's needed to sustain a flourishing biomedical enterprise. President Bush is asking for $7.9 billion next year for the National Institutes of Health, a 4.7% increa

Elizabeth Pennisi

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Bush asks for expansion in grants and minority training, but his 4.7% projected increase falls short of rising lab costs.

WASHINGTON--Despite a budget that Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan says maintains an "unprecedented level of support" for biomedical research, the president's request for 1991 falls short of what's needed to sustain a flourishing biomedical enterprise.

President Bush is asking for $7.9 billion next year for the National Institutes of Health, a 4.7% increase over present spending. That request includes such welcome increases as: an increase from 4,633 to 5,095 in the number of new and competing extramural research grants; 225 more postdoctoral trainees, bringing the total to a new high of 12,020; a $48 million increase, to $108 million, in the Human Genome Initiative; and $57 million more to fight AIDS, bringing the Public Health Service total to $1.7 billion.

Other increases are meant to encourage more minorities ...

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