Censoring federal scientists. Prioritizing corporate interest. Pausing grant review and study sections indefinitely. Ignoring the best available science. In the first two weeks since Inauguration Day, the new Trump administration has done all of these. In fact, we’ve counted at least 18 ways that the Trump administration has suppressed, undermined or invalidated the role of science in the federal government within their first two weeks of being back in the White House. There are at least 14 of Trump’s Executive Orders (EO’s) from his first week that contain such attacks on science.
These harmful EO’s have disbanded federal advisory committees (FACs), rolled back environmental regulations, and have ignored the best available science, among other anti-science actions. Researchers at UCS documented over 200 instances of the first Trump administration undercutting science and federal scientists, and are likely to see many more in the next four years with implications across the board, especially for marginalized communities. Keeping science free from politicization and political interference is critical for developing evidence-driven policy, and by extension, protecting the health of people and the planet.
We reviewed the actions, decisions, and policies coming out of the White House within the first two weeks of the new administration to determine if they interfered with the scientific process or went against the best available science. This is just a snapshot in time—the analysis is preliminary and by no means comprehensive, which means there may be more going on than what we have been able to track so far. And, of course, developments are happening quickly and we’re expecting to see new attacks in the future.
Here’s a look at some of these attacks on science, and what they might mean for the Trump administration’s use of science in policymaking.
Silencing science: attacks on federal scientists and research
For the first time in 60 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was unable to release their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) because of orders from the White House. The Trump administration has placed orders that have had more immediate implications for federal scientists and their work. Within two days of inauguration, the White House halted all external communications (excluding emergency notifications) coming out of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Not only are these orders effectively censoring federal scientists, but it’s also preventing critical reports and messaging to come out of federal agencies such as the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that help inform best practices for public health. The MMWR, for example, provides the most up-to-date scientific information for timely public health usage.
On top of preventing federal scientists from releasing reports and otherwise communicating with the public, additional constraints were placed on agencies within HHS through EO’s and direct instruction. In the NIH, all grant review panels have been halted, any type of travel, such as conferences for scientists to present their work, has been banned, and federal advisory committee (FAC) meetings have been paused indefinitely. Preventing grants from being disseminated, scientists from meeting, and scientific work from being communicated will have lasting, far-reaching impacts on the issues being researched, and the people who are directly affected by the research being conducted—they create a chilling effect across scientific discovery and collaboration inside and outside of the federal government. These actions are also blatant attacks on science, as my colleague Darya Minovi explains here.
We’re also watching closely to see what happens with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board and Clean Air Science Advisory Committee, which were dismissed entirely by Acting Administrator James Payne on Tuesday the 28th. While new administrations often “reset” boards like these, how they’re reconstituted will have a big influence on whether the EPA can create evidence-based policies.
Putting your health and the planet at risk: targeting climate science
Despite longstanding scientific evidence of the negative impacts of fossil fuels (e.g., coal, oil, methane gas), multiple executive orders (such as this one and this one) from the first week of Trump’s presidency will make it easier to extract, transport, and use them. Another order withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, an international treaty developed based on the best available science on the relationships between global emissions, climate change, and climate disasters, such as the wildfires ravaging Southern California for just over the past two weeks. A separate executive order stopped offshore wind development, a form of renewable energy whose benefits are supported by scientific evidence and consensus. Altogether, these policies defy the best available science and reveal how the Trump administration has prioritized the interests of favored corporations over science and the public interest.
Justice and equity are not for all: eliminating DEI
The scientific evidence is clear: marginalized groups, especially communities of color and low-income communities, are disproportionately harmed by multiple sources of pollution. Eliminating environmental justice considerations is not just an attack on science, but a clear disregard for the groups most impacted by their absence.
Trump signed and rescinded multiple executive orders in a large-scale push to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the federal government. Many people’s jobs and livelihoods have been put at risk with Trump placing DEI-related roles on leave. A lot of the roles eliminated include positions related to environmental justice. Environmental justice is the idea that all people should be protected from harmful environmental policies, practices, and institutions (such as hazardous facilities) and have equitable access to a healthy environment—and that members of the most impacted groups must be part of the process of solving these issues.
Another executive order places stipulations on federal grants and funding, forcing applicants to confirm they are not encouraging the principles of DEI in any of their programs to be eligible for federal funds. This will have far-reaching implications, as federal funds are dispensed to applicants across the country, including scientific researchers at a variety of institutions. Placing political stipulations on federal funding that force scientists to reject DEI principles is, straightforwardly, political interference in science. It’s a subjective and arbitrary standard that undermines the ability to do good research. We saw similar tactics in the first Trump administration, when political appointees reviewed if grant money was being used in alignment with the administration’s priorities.
Replacing science with political attacks: sex and gender identity
In contrast to the best available science, one of Trump’s executive orders attempts to legislate entire groups of Americans out of existence by restricting how the federal government can acknowledge sex and gender identity. The ideological insistence on a restrictive binary approach to gender completely ignores the scientifically supported existence of intersex people, or people born with sex characteristics (e.g., reproductive organs, chromosomes) that fall outside of the male/female binary. Another way in which this order departs from the best available science is ignoring the differences between biological sex (i.e., one’s sex assigned at birth) and gender identity (i.e., one’s internal knowledge of their own gender). This effectively erases anybody who does not identify as cisgender (or someone whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth), such as transgender and non-binary people. The order does not allow them to be recognized by the federal government in their policies or documentation. Another order from earlier this week even banned federal funds from being used for gender-affirming care for minors, despite its positive impacts on mental health. Not only do these executive orders seek to cruelly invalidate entire populations of people, but they also ignore the best available science on biological sex and gender identity.
What’s next?
These are only a sample of ways that the Trump administration has attacked science within just the first few weeks of being back in the White House. We do not expect this to be the end of the administration’s attempts to invalidate science and silence scientists. Because of this, we’re prepared to monitor and push back on this administration’s attempts to ignore the best available science in favor of politicization and corporate interests. If you want to get involved on the ground floor of this important work, start by visiting our “Save Science, Save Lives” webpage. In the meantime, here at the Union of Concerned Scientists, we’ll continue advocating for policy informed by research and the scientific process.