Funding NIH grants

A group called the Traditional Values Coalition has just released an action alert asking their members/followers to contact their Congressmen. They want people to demand that Congress freeze funding of what they refer to as "bizarre" and "questionable" NIH research projects. It is unclear what constitutes a "bizarre" or "questionable" project or who will be the one to make such a decision, however, according to this group this type of work should be halted. This is a clear attempt to just push their agenda.

All NIH research projects are peer-reviewed. This means that the experts in the field have donated their time to review and critically assess each grant. In fact, each grant is read and critiqued by at least three researchers within a panel. After the initial review, these professionals then get together to debate the merits and limitations of each grant to decide which proposals are so exceptional that they are worthy of funding. Through this rigorous process only the best proposals are funded.

With the economy in such a weak state and funding for research at an all time low, competitiveness for grants has increased significantly. Therefore, only a small fraction of these meritorious projects are actually receiving money. Indeed, estimates are that less than 10% of all grants submitted per cycle are actually funded.

Why should those outside the field, those who are not experts on these topics, be able to stop these research projects? Please, leave the decisions about what science should be funded to the experts who are best able to judge the projects.