Late last week, President Trump issued an executive order that directs federal agencies to terminate their Scientific Integrity Policies and interfere in science-based decision making.
Below is a statement by Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):
“This order is part of a large-scale attack on democracy, public health and truth that has the potential to harm people across the United States.
“While couched in science-supporting rhetoric, this executive order reveals how the Trump administration intends to weaponize science to undermine public health and safety protections. We've seen these moves before, and if carried out at federal agencies, this order could leave the nation less responsive to scientific evidence and more exposed to harmful pollution.
“The order is part of the administration’s pattern of dismantling the U.S. science enterprise, including attacks on academic freedom at American universities and major cuts to federal research grants at the National Science Foundation, National Institutions of Health and elsewhere.
“Together, these moves set the stage to empower polluters, shield industry from accountability and create a research vacuum allowing Trump and his cronies to put forward junk science that supports their agenda and silences credible scientists whose findings run counter to the administration’s political goals.
“Good science is essential to democracy. It allows the public to access peer-reviewed, objective data that helps people understand the world and hold decisionmakers accountable when their decisions contradict what evidence shows is in the public interest. This executive order is a thinly veiled attempt at supressing good science and doing away with studies that show how industry actions impact public health and the environment.”