Eight of Spain's biomedical research organizations have sent a joint manifesto to the press complaining that their members have received none of the government money they were promised for research over six months ago. Entitled The Chaos of Biomedical Research Funding in Spain, the document says, “[we] intend to express the disquiet of the scientific community regarding the financing policy of basic biomedical research,” and claims “the work of basic biomedical research groups is being considerably distorted [by the problem].”

The manifesto continues, “many groups have been forced to use internal loans” so that “research activities do not come to a halt.” Ana Aranda, head of the Department of Regulation of Gene Expression at the Institute of Biomedical Research in Madrid, who is waiting on funds approved last July says that some research groups owe millions of pesetas to other groups, both for consumables and salaries. The manifesto concludes, “This situation is unprecedented in the recent history of science policy in Spain.”

Molecular biologist Rosario Perona, secretary of the Spanish Association of Cancer Research, says that the manifesto prompted a meeting with officials from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (MST), who claimed that the delay was due merely to poor synchronization in advertising the research projects. At the 4 February meeting, researchers pushed the MST for a 30-day deadline for receiving the money.

Jaime Lissavetzky, spokesman for the socialist party's science commission at the Parliament, says that additional delay resulted from the change-over of currency to the Euro. Questions about the missing funds were due to be asked in the Spanish parliament last month.