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Presidential candidates asked about waste of research dollars at UC campuses

Presidential candidates Barack Obama, John McCain, Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney are being asked to weigh in on a report to be released Monday at three University of California campuses that outlines a waste of hundreds of millions of dollars in redundant government research.

Details of the news conferences and protests below:

SAN FRANCISCO, Monday, 10 a.m., 513 Parnassus Ave at UCSF. Contact: Bob O'Brien 415/751-3756. Releasing national report, internal UCSF documents.

DAVIS, Monday, 1:30 p.m., UC Davis Main Administration Building, Mrak Hall, 1 Shields Ave.. Contact: Linda 916/798-5516. Releasing national, UCD internal documents.

BERKELEY, Monday, 4 p.m., PROTEST and news conference at University Ave. and Oxford Way, in front of the Li Ka-Shing Center Construction Site. Contact: Jake 510/735-5792.

National research watchdog SAEN is releasing a document showing that a high level of duplication and redundancy at the National Institute of Health is wasting at least tens, and probably hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary taxpayer-funded research.

The funding for just 75 wasteful projects at the National Eye Institute could pay for health insurance for 10,000 Americans, or 2,500 American families, said Michael Budkie, SAEN executive director, in his letter to McCain, Obama, McKinney and Nader.

"This is an unprecedented amount of waste of federal funding at a time when America can ill afford it. Please examine the budget of these agencies and sub-agencies to eliminate the waste and redirect the funding into areas that can help real people now," said Budkie in the letter.

The report includes internal documents which document horrific, illegal conditions - and an estimated $1 billion in wasted tax dollars - inside the nation's premier research laboratories, including UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and UC Davis.

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