Its a sad state of affairs when the DOGE / Trump people cutting the NIH budgets don’t know the difference between transgender and transgenic… perhaps having poorly educated 19 year olds in DOGE slashing the NIH budget is not the best idea?
Update: perhaps the mistake was not between “transgenic” and “transgender”. Given that “transgender mice” are impossible, I’m not sure how its possible to know what he was talking about but here is another take:
President Trump told Congress that the federal government is paying for research to make “transgender mice.” That’s wrong. But his critics were incorrect, too.
Last night, President Trump told Congress that federal dollars are being spent to make “transgender” mice.
Some scientists countered online that the mice are not “transgender,” but, rather “transgenic,” referring to a genetic technique that changes the DNA of laboratory animals. Scientists create transgenic animals by inserting or deleting genes—or introducing other remarkable modifications that cover an incredible array of functions and implications. This powerful technique is used to study countless diseases and scientific questions.
Everyone is wrong.
The mice in the studies everyone is talking about were neither transgender nor transgenic.
This all started when a member of Congress made a spectacle of these studies at a hearing in February. That’s why it is quite clear which subset of studies were being referenced in President Trump’s speech. He said the government is spending $8 million on making transgender mice. The government spends hundreds of millions of dollars on projects that use transgenic mice to study dozens of diseases and biological mysteries.
If you think about it, the very notion of a “transgender mouse” is completely ridiculous. Mice can’t tell you their gender. They can’t tell you how they identify. They don’t know their pronouns. They are mice! Of course, they do have genetic sexes. And the studies being misunderstood here do indeed concern injecting sex hormones into laboratory animals like mice and monkeys. Scientists are studying the behavioral and biological effects that result from changing the hormonal profiles of these animals. Injecting female mice with testosterone does not make them transgender. It makes them masculinized. The inverse is true for male mice given estrogen or testosterone blockers.
It may be splashy and salacious, but studies like these are actually often well-worth doing for any number of reasons. Plenty of biologists can tell you why it’s important that we understand the endocrine system, the reproductive system, and related scientific questions. But let’s at least understand what is really happening in these particular labs.
In the end, we want to fund science, not cut it. To get there, I’d rather scientists spend their time demystifying why experiments involving changes in sex hormone profiles of animals are worthwhile than mischaracterizing (albeit likely unintentionally) what is actually happening in these research projects. I imagine there is a large population of taxpayers that has no earthly idea why we ought to be funding these endeavors. Worse, if you described these studies to them, I think many of them would, at least initially, not see the utility. But, through thoughtful conversations and explanations, I think many (and maybe even most) people might end up supporting science that initially seemed frivolous, if not downright off-putting.
Look, worse mistakes have been made by science communicators and I think those dunking on the President had reason to be suspicious that he got something wrong. That’s because he and his allies don’t seem to have any idea what science is or why it matters. And, yes, the President was wrong. But he was not entirely off-base, I suppose. Scientists are indeed masculinizing female mice and monkeys and feminizing male mice and monkeys. That does not make the animals “transgender,” and clearly President Trump doesn’t understand why these experiments have value*.* If he’s curious—and I’m sure he ain’t—I’d be glad to tell him.
Regardless, it’s always good to correct the record so that we can spend our energy on the right fights.
Here’s my three-minute video on this that I posted on Instagram … (see link below for video)
