Trump’s War on Public Health Targets CDC, FDA and NIH Experts
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Layoffs at the CDC, FDA, NIH and across government continue, with thousands of employees targeted, particularly those hired in the past one to two years. FDA staff regulating digital health and artificial intelligence, many of whom are recent hires, have been particularly hard hit, as well as the Human Foods Program and Center for Tobacco Products.
Public Citizen Health Research Group Director Dr. Robert Steinbrook issued the following statement:
“The blunt axing of CDC, FDA and NIH staff based on years of service and at a time when none of these agencies have Senate-confirmed leadership is a false economy that undermines public health. Terminating newly hired staff who have brought needed expertise about digital health and generative artificial intelligence to the FDA is particularly appalling. Although Gen-AI enabled medical devices have promise to improve health, without robust and thoughtful oversight, people are more likely to be harmed.
“Although probationary employees at federal health agencies may have fewer rights, their scientific expertise is no less valuable. Congressional oversight, legal scrutiny, and pushback from the medical community and the public is essential to work against these cynical actions.
“The bottom line is this: With fewer experts at our nation’s leading health agencies, Americans will suffer more preventable diseases and more unsafe drugs and medical devices will be marketed. This completely preventable health crisis makes a mockery of the Trump Administration’s claim that it will “make America healthy again.”