Potential Crisis in Environmental Health Research
A potential crisis looms with the loss of environmental health research due to the federal government canceling and scaling back funding.
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, America's First Research University, worry about the health and economic consequences for society. Benjamin Zaitchik, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences, expressed his concerns on a late-summer day in his office.
"Baltimore is sinking, and the sea is rising,"
Zaitchik explained that extreme weather conditions, such as excessive rainwater, are affecting the city's aging infrastructure and underground water-flow channels. He noted that the soil doesn't stay frozen as long in January, and it rains much more than it snows, leading to floods.
Author's summary: Funding cuts threaten environmental health research.