Two scientists who co-authored a paper on evolution opted against publishing their research out of fear of retaliation, including deportation, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
Both scientists, who were not named in the story, are in the United States legally, according to the report. Regardless, they feared for their status if they went through with publishing the paper, according to the Post.
"[The paper] was months of work, but at the same time, I know the current situation, and I'm scared for my friends in the U.S.," a European evolutionary biologist told the Post. "I told them, 'If you think it is too dangerous, don't do it.'"
Their fear is unfounded, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya told the Post. Further, none of President Donald Trump's executive orders have targeted evolution research.
"The NIH is committed to promoting a scientific community where free speech and scientific dissent are embraced and encouraged," Bhattacharya, confirmed by the Senate last month, told the Post in a statement.
Michael L. Wong, an astrobiologist who was set to edit the paper, told the Post that the manuscript was going to be part of a special edition of The Royal Society journal.
"But the fact that people, scientific researchers, are afraid of just engaging in normal scientific discourse, putting their well thought-out ideas into the public sphere so that everybody can see them, read them, come to their own conclusions about them and then debate them ― it is so disheartening," Wong told the Post.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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