Comment from Jeffrey Segall

Comment on 200.340 I am a Professor of Pathology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. I have performed cancer research for over 30 years, receiving grants, publishing over 100 papers, training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The proposed change to 200.340 has the potential to severely damage US research and prosperity because of the uncertainty provided by the threat of mid project termination due to changes in what is considered politically correct. Obviously if there is malfeasance or misuse of funds, then the grant should be revoked. But the threat that a grant could be revoked simply because “agency priorities” shift, will lead to the worst type of minimally novel, play it safe science, where the political correctness of the grant is more important that the science itself. For all of these reasons, the proposed changes to 200.340 should be retracted.