About 200 grants on sexual behavior that came under attack last fall by Congress and a conservative group were all properly reviewed and funded, National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni has concluded after an internal review. The 26 January letter to Congress is Zerhouni's formal response to what many alarmed observers saw as an ideological attack on scientific research.
NIH began a sweeping review of its human sexuality research portfolio after the House came close to eliminating funding for four sexual research grants in July, and some lawmakers raised more questions at a 2 October hearing. A House Energy and Commerce committee staffer then forwarded to NIH a list of about 198 grants compiled by the Traditional Values Coalition, a conservative advocacy group (Science, 31 October 2003, p. 758). The research topics ranged from research on AIDS and risky behaviors, such as drug use, to preventing teenage pregnancy. The Coalition's Andrea Lafferty called the studies "smarmy" and a waste of taxpayers' money.
Not so, says Zerhouni in a two-page letter sent to Commerce Committee chair Billy Tauzin (R-LA) and two senators. "The peer review process ... worked properly," and "I fully support NIH's continued investment in research on human sexuality," Zerhouni wrote. An attached six-page summary by institute directors provides detailed justification for three specific grants, including a study of prostitutes and truck drivers that NIH says will help prevent spreading HIV from truckers to their wives, and a conference on sexual functioning that could "improve the lives of millions of Americans" and shed light on dysfunction. "Some of this research has unseemly titles because, frankly, the research involves looking at difficult, albeit real, components of the human condition," the summary says.
The summary also explains the peer-review process that approved the grants. All are scientifically justified, received high marks, and are connected to public health priorities, the document concludes.
"We're pleased that NIH has reiterated its support for sound science that is needed to address these significant public health issues," says Karen Studwell, policy analyst for the American Psychological Association. But the issue is not likely to go away just yet; research advocates expect the sex grants to come up later this year during congressional hearings on NIH's 2005 budget appropriation.
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