Thousands protest new science law passed in ‘atypical’ process

More than 14,000 people have signed a letter protesting against the approval of a new science law in Mexico on 29 April. They say that the legislation – the General Law on Humanities, Sciences, Technologies and Innovation – consolidates power over science with the government and ignores the wishes of the research community, writes Myriam Vidal Valero for Nature.

Signatories, who are planning a march later this month, are also angry that Mexico’s ruling party, that of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, rushed the law through and they say approval didn’t follow normal parliamentary procedures.

The process was “atypical” and “irregular”, says Fidel Sánchez, a bioinformatics researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. The law’s passage adds to tensions between the research community and Obrador’s administration, which has slashed science funding in Mexico and accused some scientists of organised crime.
Full report on the Nature site