Attacks on Science

Published Jan 20, 2017 Updated Jun 23, 2026

This page represents our work covering attacks on science under previous administrations. Our new tracker, covering attacks on science under the second Trump administration, can be found here. The methodology and other resources for this new tracking system can be found here.

Science is at the core of a healthy democracy. But for years, presidential administrations have, in differing ways, sidelined scientific evidence and attacked scientific integrity.

Due to the large number of attacks on science we’re seeing from the second Trump administration, we have provided regular summaries of documented attacks.

Below is the list of documented attacks on science that occurred under the four previous administrations. They include disappearing data, silenced scientists, suppressed studies, and other assaults on science-based policy. More information on these attacks can be found in our peer-reviewed study and in our data repository.

Attacks on science

Agency Topic Administration

Child drinking glass of water.

EPA Refuses to Regulate Rocket Fuel Chemical in Drinking Water

The EPA has officially announced that it will not regulate perchlorate, a common ingredient of explosives and rocket fuel, in the nation’s drinking water supplies.

Gloves hands holding a petri dish.

Fetal Tissue Research Blocked by a Biased Advisory Committee

13 out of 14 NIH grants submitted since September 2019 that involve fetal tissue are likely to be rejected based solely on the recommendations of the Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Student in an empty classroom wears a mask.

White House Demands Rewriting of CDC’s COVID-19 Guidelines for Schools

Vice President Mike Pence ordered the CDC to rewrite their school opening guidelines for reasons that appeared to be primarily political.

Person wearing a mask in the dark, typing on a laptop.

Trump Administration Takes Away Hospitalization Data From the CDC

The Administration mandated that hospitals bypass the CDC and send data on COVID-19 hospitalizations, to a private third party.

A scientist in a lab

Trump Administration Endangered People Evacuating From Coronavirus-Infected Cruise Ship

State Department officials overrode science-based concerns of CDC officials and allowed 14 infected people to board an airplane with over 300 non-infected people.

President Trump standing at a podium.

White House Hides Economic Analysis Showing COVID-19 Downturns

The White House will forego the publication of an economic analysis on budget projections in the summer of 2020.

A commercial fishing boat.

NOAA Fisheries is Restricting the Use of the Words “COVID-19” and “Pandemic”

An official memo, issued by NOAA, stated that the agency’s “preferred approach” is making “no reference to anything COVID related” in public-facing documents.

People sitting in church holding bibles.

Trump Administration Buries COVID-19 Information For Religious Communities

White House officials instructed the CDC to delete certain sections of a COVID-19 guidance measure for communities of faith.

A parent taking their child's temperature.

Trump Administration Ignores CDC Scientists on COVID-19 Temperature Screenings

Scientists at the CDC were ignored by the White House when they stated that the best available science shows that temperature checks are not a reliable tool for screening COVID-19.

Person biking through flooded street.

Climate Change Resilience Study Halted

The Trump administration indefinitely froze a six-year study looking at future flooding risks in the New York-New Jersey area.

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