Lafayette Reporter

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana has introduced the Scientific Research Accessibility and Transparency Act (SRATA) of 2024. The bill aims to ensure that American taxpayers have access to medical research funded by their taxes, regardless of the study's findings. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Kennedy emphasizes transparency in federally funded research.

The proposed legislation mandates that researchers receiving grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) submit their findings or data within one year after completing their studies. Researchers who fail to comply with this requirement would be barred from receiving federal funding for five years.

Kennedy stated, "Gender activists have insisted that puberty blockers help kids overcome mental health issues associated with gender dysphoria—even when research doesn’t support that claim. If the federal government funds medical research, Americans should have access to the facts that it reveals. This bill would make sure that taxpayers get to see the research results that they’ve paid for so that political maneuvering can’t bury the truth."

This move follows revelations by The New York Times about Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy withholding results from a nine-year study on puberty-blocking drugs' mental health effects on children. Her project reportedly received $9.7 million in NIH funding, but she plans to keep the results private due to concerns they might support arguments against using puberty blockers on children.

The full text of SRATA is available online for public review.