“We dedicate $240 million a year on traffic safety research, more than $233 million a year on food safety, and $331 million a year on the effects of tobacco, but almost nothing on firearms that kill 33,000 Americans annually,” they wrote in a letter to senior representatives in charge of appropriations. The doctors are not alone in calling for the amendment to be overturned: Late last month, dozens of House Democrats made a similar plea to renew federal research on gun violence. Dickey wrote that the lack of research by the NIH and the CDC had resulted in a troubling information gap: “US scientists cannot answer the most basic question: What works to prevent firearm injuries? We don’t know whether having more citizens carry guns would decrease or increase firearm deaths or whether firearm registration and licensing would make inner-city residents safer or expose them to greater harm.” Jay Dickey (R-Ark.), admitted in a 2012 op-ed in the Washington Post that he co-authored. Tacked onto a 1996 appropriations bill, the Dickey Amendment was pushed through Congress by Republican legislators under substantial pressure from the NRA, as the amendment’s author, former Rep. “Physicians believe it’s time to lift this effective ban and fund the research needed to save lives.” Alice Chen, the executive director of Doctors for America, said in a statement. “Gun violence is a public health problem that kills 90 Americans a day,” Dr. On Wednesday, nine medical associations publicly urged Congress to overturn the so-called Dickey Amendment, which in 1996 effectively halted research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) into the causes of gun violence. More than 2,000 physicians, dozens of Democratic lawmakers, and even the author of the amendment have all called on Congress to once again allow gun violence to be investigated as a public health issue. All rights reserved.Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.Įven before today’s tragic shooting in San Bernardino, pressure was building in Washington to overturn an amendment, backed by the National Rifle Association, that has barred federal research on gun violence for nearly 20 years. Supported by professional codes of ethics and discipline-specific education, we present concrete activities readers can use to address gag order legislation and in doing so, protect patient and community health outcomes.Īcademic freedom Health disparities Health equity Legislative gag orders Nursing education Professional autonomy.Ĭopyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. This commentary seeks to highlight the immediate and long-term impact of academic gag orders and to encourage action in opposition of such legislation. Nursing and other faculty in higher education, however, are being gagged by laws and executive orders which prevent them from teaching and conducting research about historic and contemporary health disparities. Similarly, national research institutions and private grant funders are funding health disparities research. Many nursing and other professional healthcare organizations have recognized and published statements decrying racism in healthcare and calling for an increased focus on health disparities and advancing health equity. The number of these laws, also called gag orders, is increasing despite a national outcry against racism, homophobia and transphobia, and other forms of discrimination. Since 2021, some state legislators have passed laws that limit what public institutions can teach about discrimination.
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