The Trump administration’s ongoing war on science is having very real consequences for Canadian researchers and scientists. Here’s a high-level overview of what’s happened over the month of November during the longest U.S. government shutdown in American history.
Funding Cuts
At the instigation of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattarachya, the NIH announced it would end its decades-long practice of peer-review scoring for grant applications, and instead use “paylines”. All 27 institutes and centres at the NIH must now consider factors such as: the institutes’ priorities, the applicant’s existing funding, and even their geographic location. Scientists warn that this new change will open up grant decisions to direct political influence, and lead to further cuts in federal funding for research.
A new study from the Association of American Medical Colleges has found that NIH funding cuts already caused by the Trump administration have affected over 74,000 patients enrolled in experiments testing treatments for cancer, heart, disease, and brain disease. These cuts have disproportionately-impacted efforts to address infectious diseases, including the flu, pneumonia, and COVID-19 – a concerning development given that U.S. Health Secretary RFK Jr. has been actively undermining vaccine research across the U.S. Health and Human Services department (NIH’s parent agency). In addition, researchers at the Journal of Science found that the number of research grants issued by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have plunged 20% this year, clearly demarking the concerted efforts by the Trump administration to slash NSF research funds.
Suppression of Evidence
In a new concerning development for public health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released its updated “Autism and Vaccines” webpage, eliminating the definitive scientific statement that vaccines do not cause autism, instead calling vaccinations into question, and warning that future updates to the webpage will reflect “Gold Standard Science”. On 12 November, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed it eliminate the Biden era 2023 EPA policy on “forever chemicals”, and would scale back requirements for chemical manufacturers to report their use of PFAS. Under the proposal, companies would no longer face the requirement to report whether PFAS were used as ingredients or were made for research and development purposes, as well as exempting certain byproducts and impurities. In his public statement, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin alleged “this Biden-era rule would have imposed crushing regulatory burdens”, claiming his new proposal would not place “ridiculous requirements on manufacturers”.
Muzzling Scientists
On October 30, the U.S. Energy Department (DOE) suddenly announced that it would be replacing its six core advisory committees with a single “Office of Science Advisory Committee” – issuing notice to committee members just days later. This replaces decades of practice where the DOE’s Office of Science (i.e. the largest American funder of physical sciences, and home to 10 national laboratories) relied on six separate advisory committees to provide guidance on each of its core research programs – fuelling fear that scientists will lose their voices at the agency. On 12 November, conservation critic and former oil executive Steve Pearce was announced as the new head of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency responsible for balancing public land conservation with human use. Since January, the Trump administration has directed the Department of the Interior (i.e. BLM’s parent agency) with rapid approval of oil, gas, and mining permits, including more than 600 new permits to drill on public lands.
Policy Reversals and Pushback
Several court orders were issued to the Trump administration during the government shutdown, including U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper’s order that the U.S. Education Department (DOE) immediately remove partisan language from employees’ automated out-of-office email responses, ruling that it violates First Amendment rights.
The University of Pennsylvania’s rejection of the Trump administration’s “Compact on Higher Education” marked the latest development in the growing pushback from universities against what many see as a “loyalty compact” with the Trump administration.
Lastly, scientists at the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) stepped in to fill gaps in scientific expertise, announcing their plans to publish health alerts modelled on the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Previously, CIDRAP scientists had also launched the Vaccine Integrity Project, recruited former CDC officials (including former director Rochelle Walensky), and launched a comprehensive review of seasonal viral pathogen vaccines to provide evidence-based recommendations. This marks a growing move by CIDRAP scientists to fill the gap in scientific leadership amidst U.S. Health Secretary Kennedy’s purge of senior scientists, mass firings of experts, and ideologically-driven official reports aimed at undermining vaccination research.
