Washington D.C. (November 29, 2012) – Traditional Values Coalition president Andrea Lafferty issued the following statement regarding (NIHCD) National Institute of Child and Human Development’s testimony today at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the costs of treating autism and response of the federal government:

"If Congress is going to avert the fiscal cliff there must be significant spending cuts without holding core services or essential research hostage to political pet projects.

"National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins has threatened that every category of NIH research will ‘get a haircut’ if sequestration takes effect.

“NIH does not need to cut a little bit off the top of everything. NIH needs to cut out the wasteful and bizarre spending that is siphoning off critical research dollars to questionable and politically-driven grants instead of going to autism research.

“Congress must ensure that NIH (and for that matter, all agencies and departments) does not employ political tactics to scare Americans. We have been through this drill before. Bureaucrats and political operatives will claim they have to shut down national monuments or parks to meet the budget. Dr Collins is essentially claiming he will have to cut cancer research.

"Congress must force NIH/NICHD to address their unbalanced priorities.

"We don't need to cut research to autism or to cancer patients. We need to cut wacky spending. Congressional leaders have a duty and responsibility in these critical times to make this point abundantly clear."

EXAMPLES OF WHERE NICHD PET PROJECTS HAVE COST AUTISM RESEARCH FUNDING

• An NICHD favorite, Victor Agadjanian, received $149,500 to study in Kazakhstan the sex habits after the fall of the Soviet Union.

• Timothy Loving wanted to know if break ups cause stress at different levels in men and women. NICHD funded his ‘research’ to the tune of $401,955.

• Do people in developing countries respond better to face-to-face or phone interviews when it comes to discussing their sexual mood? To find the answer, 800 young adult Filipinos were canvassed with $394,438 in NICHD funding.

• The sexual health of migrant and non-migrant “Street Walkers” in Shanghai, China is a top priority of NICHD. One particular grant received $375,751 to determine why older, less educated, lower paid Chinese prostitutes are less likely to use protection.

• Stevan Weine spent five years trying to figure out how sexually transmitted diseases are spread from husband to wife. His $2,281,396 NICHD grant focused on Tajikistani men who use prostitutes while working in Moscow.

• The Chinese government is finally noticing that MSM (men who have sex with men) are a high risk group for HIV. NICHD wants to help the Chinese government establish the prevalence rates of gonorrhea, herpes, and syphilis in MSM. Frank Wong received nearly $3 million to help Red China out.

• NICHD believes that sexual orientation and obesity are one of the most critical public health issues affecting the U.S. today. As a result, NICHD spent $1.5 million to find out that lesbians are fatter than their straight female counterparts.

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