A physician-led group dedicated to “the existential threats to human health: nuclear war and climate change” that recently hosted a webinar on the public health threat posed by gas powered leaf blowers, will receive a $700,000 appropriation in 2026 from the federal government to conduct a “Toxic Exposure Assessment.”

The federal money represents a massive eight fold increase in the organization’s budget from 2024 to 2026. 2025 data is not yet available.

The funds were earmarked to the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility by Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren.

According to the state’s public charity non-profit database, Greater Boston PSR took in only $82,918 in 2024, with $50,061 in expenses. The charity took in $45,082 in 2023.

The funding highlights the cyclical nature of tax payer funded projects connected to politically active “non-profits” and non-profit leaders.

The earmarked appropriation was lambasted in Senator Rand Paul’s recent Festivus Report 2025: “federal funds are being routed to an organization that supports banning gas stoves, the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and even publicly supports protest rallies against President Trump. Perhaps the senators behind this project care to explain how paying activists is somehow in the best interest of the nation's health.”

According to PSR’s main website “PSR was proud to once again co-sponsor the second nationwide No Kings [anti-Trump] protests on Saturday, October 18…Many protesters [including Greater Boston PSR Co-Chair of Susan Racine seen above] wore costumes and carried signs supporting democracy, immigration, health care, LGBTQ rights and environmental protections.”

Details on the 2026 “Toxic Exposure Assessment” were not immediately available.