ONGOING: Systematic Destruction of Scientific Infrastructure
February 19, 2026: Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act — a wartime law — to mandate domestic production of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller, classified by the WHO as "probably carcinogenic to humans." Bayer donated $1M to Trump's inauguration and proposed a $7.25B cancer lawsuit settlement the day before. RFK Jr. — who once won a $289M verdict against Monsanto for glyphosate-caused cancer — now defends the order. The "Make America Healthy Again" movement was a scam.
February 12, 2026: EPA revoked the Endangerment Finding — the scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health. Called the "largest deregulatory action in history," this overturns the legal foundation for all federal climate regulations, contradicting the scientific consensus of 97%+ of climate scientists.
February 9, 2026: CDC cancelled $600 million in HIV and STD prevention funding to four Democratic-led states (California, Illinois, New York, Washington). Public health officials warn this will reverse decades of progress on HIV prevention during an ongoing crisis.
The Senate investigation identified 57 attacks on scientific integrity in the first 8 months. The attacks have only accelerated since.
🔬 Trump's War on Science
Last updated: February 19, 2026 | Source: Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
57+ Documented Attacks on Scientific Integrity — And Accelerating
On September 9, 2025, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a comprehensive report documenting 57 separate instances in which the Trump Administration undermined science, suppressed scientific speech, and took actions that threaten America's health—all in just eight months.
This is not hyperbole. Every instance documented here is sourced from official government actions, congressional testimony, court filings, and statements from scientists who were fired or forced to resign.
⚠️ The Warning: "The harms from the Trump Administration's cuts and firings will accumulate for years, indeed for decades, to come: lives that might have been saved by studies the Administration defunded; the loss of scientific innovation as scientists flee to countries where their work is not censored."
The Devastation By The Numbers
🤐Censored Research & Suppressed Scientific Speech
Communications Blackout & Data Purges
- January 21, 2025: Mandated a "pause" in all federal health communications. CDC failed to issue its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) for the first time in agency history, delaying critical information about bird flu cases and drug overdose deaths.
- January 29, 2025: Removed websites and purged agency databases, including safe food choices during pregnancy and HIV prevention information. CDC advisory board called it "unprecedented."
- January 31, 2025: Blocked all CDC researchers from publishing in any journal. Forced staff to retract work already submitted to ensure "forbidden terms" didn't appear.
- February 24, 2025: Attempted to ban CDC employees from using words like "race," "bias," and "disparity" in performance evaluations.
Suppressed Critical Public Health Information
- March 24, 2025: Suppressed a measles forecast during the worst outbreak in decades. CDC leaders ordered staff not to release a report showing high risk in areas with lagging vaccination rates.
- April 16, 2025: Censored NIH's top researcher on ultra-processed foods. Kevin Hall resigned after NIH leadership suppressed findings of his study and made him feel he could no longer "freely conduct unbiased science."
- May 30, 2025: Gave political appointees power to screen research at VA. Department scientists ordered not to publish in medical journals before clearing work with Trump administration appointees.
Forced Out Top Scientists Who Refused to Compromise Data
- March 28, 2025: Forced out top vaccine regulator Peter Marks (FDA). He resigned saying Kennedy wanted "subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies," not transparency. Marks refused when Kennedy sought to "edit" vaccine safety databases.
- June 18, 2025: Forced out FDA's lead reviewer of cell and gene therapies Nicole Verdun. She was placed on administrative leave and escorted out with no explanation. HHS said FDA needed staff "aligned" with the Administration.
🏚️Abandoned Scientific Institutions & Slashed Resources
April 1, 2025: The Mass Purge
10,000 HHS employees laid off in a single day in "dramatic restructuring" to comply with DOGE's "Workforce Optimization Initiative."
Total since January 20: More than 20,500 HHS employees have left or been forced out.
Critical Programs Eliminated
- Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program: Fired entire staff around the same time lead exposure forced closure of multiple Milwaukee schools, displacing 1,800 students. Kennedy claimed a CDC team was in Milwaukee—local officials said there had never been a team there.
- Birth Defects & Developmental Disabilities: Put 40% of scientists on leave, including those monitoring emergency room data to forecast outbreaks.
- Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS): Suspended data collection, forcing scientists at state and local public health bodies to abandon maternal health research.
- Office of Smoking and Health: Eliminated entirely. Cancelled National Youth Tobacco Survey during vaping epidemic.
- NIOSH (Workplace Safety): Laid off most remaining staff, including those evaluating breathing apparatuses for first responders and treating 9/11-related injuries.
Research Funding Slashed
- Columbia Diabetes Prevention Program: Halted funding for multi-decade study supervising 3,000+ patients.
- HIV Prevention Studies: Cancelled millions in NIH grants for multi-year studies on prevention drug regimens.
- Vaccine Hesitancy Research: Terminated 40+ NIH grants during worst measles year in decades.
- Pandemic Preparedness: Cancelled at least 29 grants for antivirals targeting future outbreaks (Ebola, dengue, chikungunya).
🎭Ideology Over Public Health
Abandoned Clinical Trial Patients
February 6, 2025: USAID cuts resulted in dozens of clinical trials being cancelled mid-way through, causing patients taking experimental drugs or outfitted with new medical devices to be cut off from researchers monitoring them. Studies included malaria treatment for children under 5 and tuberculosis treatment for children and teens.
June 9, 2025: Fired All Vaccine Experts, Installed Skeptics
Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—the first time such a mass firing has occurred. The terminated members were among the most knowledgeable immunologists and public health experts in the country.
Replacements included: Multiple people with records of expressing unfounded doubts about vaccine safety or with comparatively little experience. One new member posted memes hinting at gun violence against government officials 48 hours after a police officer was killed in an attack on CDC headquarters.
Hired Discredited Researchers
- March 25, 2025: Hired David Geier to lead HHS efforts to find "the cause" of autism. Geier was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license in Maryland and authored studies that could not be reproduced linking vaccines and autism. His studies were retracted or widely criticized as methodologically unsound.
- May 1, 2025: Demanded "placebo testing" for vaccines, violating medical ethics. Would deprive children of protection from diseases like polio.
Cancelled Vaccines During Outbreaks
- May 28, 2025: Cancelled contract with Moderna for promising bird flu vaccine using mRNA technology—in the midst of a bird flu outbreak that killed one person and sickened dozens. Early trials showed "rapid, potent, and durable immune response."
- August 5, 2025: Abandoned $500 million in mRNA vaccine development, pulling funding from 22 studies. Public health experts: This lessens "our preparedness and national security for the next emerging pathogen or pandemic."
- May 27, 2025: Changed COVID-19 vaccine recommendations without consulting ACIP. When asked why he didn't wait for the vaccine advisory committee, FDA Commissioner Makary said ACIP would "just rubber stamp everything."
Error-Filled Reports & Fake Citations
May 22, 2025: Released MAHA Commission report containing numerous citations to studies that do not exist. After reporting identified the fake citations, HHS updated at least 18 references—several of which cited studies whose authors say the report misinterpreted their work.
Economic Data Suppression & Statistical Manipulation
- August 15, 2025: Fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Dr. Erika McEntarfer immediately after weak jobs report—first BLS Commissioner ever fired in 140-year history. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers: "way beyond anything Richard Nixon ever did." Commerce Secretary Lutnick told federal statisticians that independence is "nonsense."
- November 19, 2025: Cancelled October 2025 jobs report—first time in 900+ months (75+ years) that monthly employment data wasn't collected. October 2025 permanently missing from U.S. employment records due to 43-day government shutdown. National Economic Council Director admitted: "we'll never actually know for sure what the unemployment rate was in October."
- January 8, 2026: Posted December jobs data on Truth Social 12 hours before official release. Economist Justin Wolfers called it "unprecedented"—no prior White House had ever released market-moving jobs data ahead of schedule. Creates unfair trading advantage.
- June 1, 2018: Tweeted about jobs report 69 minutes before official release, moved markets. Former Treasury Secretary Summers: "If this had happened during the Clinton or Obama Administrations it would have been a major scandal with investigations following."
Why This Matters: "A democracy that stops publishing its own economic statistics is a democracy that stops telling its citizens the truth about its performance. It moves from measurement to message—and from transparency to tactical informational control."
The Clear Pattern
1. Silence Scientists
Communications pauses, publication bans, website purges, forbidden words, forced retractions
2. Fire Experts
20,500+ scientists and health workers removed. Anyone who won't compromise data or endorse ideology is forced out
3. Install Loyalists
Replace credentialed experts with vaccine skeptics, discredited researchers, and political appointees
4. Cancel Research
Defund any science that contradicts ideology—vaccines, climate, ultra-processed foods, pandemic prep
🚨 The Scientific Community Warned Us
Before the Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary, an unprecedented coalition of scientists, doctors, and public health leaders issued dire warnings. They were ignored.
77 Nobel Laureates (December 10, 2024)
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of the most dangerous individuals to ever be considered for a Cabinet position. He lacks the credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration. His consistent denial of safe, effective vaccines would put American lives at risk."
17,000+ Medical Professionals (December 2024)
"Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as Secretary of Health and Human Services is a clear and present danger to the nation's health."
Major Medical Organizations Opposed Kennedy's Nomination
- American Medical Association: "Deeply concerned about the nomination"
- American Academy of Pediatrics: "Kennedy's views contradict decades of scientific evidence"
- American Public Health Association: Warned of "catastrophic consequences for public health"
- American College of Physicians: Expressed "serious concerns about vaccine misinformation"
- Infectious Diseases Society of America: "Kennedy lacks the expertise to lead HHS"
- American Academy of Family Physicians: Opposed the nomination
Six Former Surgeons General (Bipartisan)
Six former U.S. Surgeons General who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents issued a joint warning that Kennedy's anti-vaccine views "pose a threat to decades of progress in public health."
Nine Former CDC Directors
Every living former CDC director signed a letter warning that Kennedy's appointment would have "catastrophic and irreversible consequences" for disease prevention and pandemic preparedness.
The Result
January 24, 2025: The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary by a vote of 52-48.
Eight months later: Every warning has come true—and worse.
- 20,500+ health workers fired
- U.S. lost measles elimination status
- Whooping cough cases increased 10-fold
- $32 billion in public health cuts
- 694 NIH research grants cancelled
- 57 documented attacks on scientific integrity
Voices of Fired Scientists
These are statements from scientists who were forced out after refusing to compromise their integrity:
"The harms from the Trump Administration's cuts and firings will accumulate for years, indeed for decades, to come: lives that might have been saved by studies the Administration defunded; the loss of scientific innovation as scientists flee to countries where their work is not censored."
"Kennedy was not interested in transparency but rather 'subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.' I offered to give Kennedy access to a vaccine safety database, but refused when the Secretary sought to 'edit' the database."
"NIH leadership made me feel I could no longer freely conduct unbiased science."
"The government was overreaching in its efforts to persuade the public to get vaccinated and they were saying things that were not always true."
Complete Timeline: All 57 Attacks
This is the complete chronological list of all 57 documented instances from the Senate report, spanning January 20 - August 27, 2025:
January 2025
- Jan 20: Withdrew from World Health Organization
- Jan 21: Mandated communications "pause" blocking health information
- Jan 22: Cancelled scientific advisory body meetings
- Jan 27: Attempted to freeze all federal grant funding
- Jan 28: Fired all EPA scientific advisory board members
- Jan 29: Removed websites and purged agency databases
- Jan 31: Blocked CDC researchers from publishing in any journal
February 2025
- Feb 4: Replaced EPA career scientists with political appointees
- Feb 6: Abandoned clinical trial patients mid-treatment
- Feb 7: Sought to cut research overhead support
- Feb 14: Fired thousands at CDC, FDA, and NIH
- Feb 18: Fired 10% of National Science Foundation staff
- Feb 20: Postponed key vaccine advisory committee meeting
- Feb 24: Attempted to ban CDC from using words like "race" and "disparity"
- Feb 26: Mischaracterized Texas measles outbreak
- Feb 26: Cancelled Ebola prevention funding
- Feb 26: Cancelled crucial flu shot preparation meeting
March 2025
- Mar 2: Forced out USAID employee who warned about health impacts
- Mar 3: Suspended maternal health data collection
- Mar 10: Ended grants related to vaccination (40+ grants)
- Mar 10: Threatened cuts to 60 universities' research funds
- Mar 10: Cancelled landmark diabetes study
- Mar 17: Terminated HIV prevention grants
- Mar 24: Cancelled pandemic preparedness grants
- Mar 24: Suppressed measles forecast during outbreak
- Mar 25: Rescinded $11.4 billion in public health grants
- Mar 25: Hired discredited researcher to study vaccine-autism link
- Mar 28: Forced out top vaccine regulator Peter Marks
April 2025
- Apr 1: Laid off 10,000 HHS employees (2,473 CDC, 1,312 NIH, 2,519 FDA)
- Apr 1: Cancelled National Youth Tobacco Survey
- Apr 1: Removed all federal HIV prevention experts
- Apr 1: Cut 40% of CDC birth defects staff
- Apr 2: Ordered NIH to cut 35% of contracts budget
- Apr 14: Used DOJ to intimidate medical journals
- Apr 16: Censored NIH's top ultra-processed foods researcher
- Apr 17: Further targeted universities' grant funding
- Apr 18: Transformed Covid.gov into partisan propaganda page
May 2025
- May 1: Demanded unethical placebo testing for vaccines
- May 2: Laid off most NIOSH workplace safety staff
- May 5: Gave DOGE authority to stop NIH grants
- May 20: Upended COVID-19 vaccine approval process
- May 20: Failed to respond to lead exposure crisis in Milwaukee
- May 22: Released error-filled MAHA report with fake citations
- May 27: Changed vaccine recommendations without consulting ACIP
- May 28: Cancelled Moderna bird flu vaccine during outbreak
- May 30: Gave political appointees control over VA research
June 2025
- June 9: Fired all 17 ACIP vaccine advisory members, replaced with skeptics
- June 17: Announced plans to reduce drug safety reviews
- June 18: Forced out FDA's lead cell/gene therapy reviewer
- June 28: Withheld congressionally authorized CDC funding
July 2025
- July 9: Cancelled preventive care experts meeting
- July 18: Dissolved EPA Office of Research and Development
- July 29: Proposed rescinding climate change endangerment finding
August 2025
- Aug 5: Abandoned $500M in mRNA vaccine development (22 studies)
- Aug 7: Gave political appointees control over all science grants
- Aug 8: Offered tepid response to CDC headquarters shooting
- Aug 27: Fired CDC director, forced out top agency officials
The Pattern Extends Beyond Health Science
The systematic attack on scientific and statistical integrity documented above focuses on health agencies (CDC, FDA, NIH). However, the pattern extends to economic data as well:
- August 2025: Fired first-ever BLS Commissioner for unfavorable jobs report
- November 2025: First time in 900+ months monthly employment data not collected
- January 2026: Posted jobs data 12 hours before official release
- June 2018: Tweeted about jobs report before release, moved markets
Whether health data or economic data, the playbook is the same: silence experts, suppress inconvenient facts, fire anyone who won't compromise data integrity, and replace measurement with messaging.
📈Since The Senate Report: The Attacks Have Escalated
The Senate report covered January–August 2025. Since then, the Trump administration has continued and escalated its war on science:
February 19, 2026: Defense Production Act for Cancer-Linked Chemical
Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act — wartime legislation — to mandate domestic production of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weedkiller. The WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans" in 2015. Studies have also linked it to reproductive harm.
The MAHA hypocrisy: RFK Jr. — Trump's HHS Secretary and the face of "Make America Healthy Again" — once won a $289 million verdict against Monsanto for glyphosate-caused cancer. He now defends the order. Ken Cook (Environmental Working Group): "I can't envision a bigger middle finger to every MAHA mom than this."
Follow the money: Bayer (the only domestic glyphosate supplier) donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. Bayer proposed a $7.25 billion cancer lawsuit settlement one day before Trump signed the order.
February 12, 2026: EPA Revokes Endangerment Finding
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin revoked the Endangerment Finding — the 2009 scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare. Called the "largest deregulatory action in history," this eliminates the legal foundation for all federal climate regulations.
The finding was based on rigorous scientific review and upheld by the Supreme Court. Revoking it contradicts the consensus of 97%+ of climate scientists. Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy: "This isn't deregulation. This is denial of science itself." 18 states and environmental groups immediately filed lawsuits.
February 9, 2026: $600M in HIV/STD Prevention Funding Cancelled
The CDC cancelled $600 million in HIV and STD prevention funding to four states — California, Illinois, New York, and Washington — all Democratic-led. The cuts target programs that fund testing, treatment, PrEP access, and STD surveillance.
These four states serve some of the largest HIV-positive populations in the country. Public health officials warn the cuts will reverse decades of progress on HIV prevention and lead to increased transmission. The targeting of Democratic states suggests political motivation behind public health decisions.
January 27, 2026: National Parks Climate & History Censorship
The National Park Service began removing climate change and Native American history displays from visitor centers at multiple parks. At Yellowstone, interpretive panels about climate impacts on the ecosystem were removed. At other parks, displays about Indigenous history were altered or taken down entirely.
NPS employees reported receiving directives to remove "politically sensitive" content. This extends the war on science from research institutions to public education — ensuring that even visitors to national parks won't encounter inconvenient scientific facts.
Why This Matters
These aren't just budget cuts or bureaucratic reshuffling. This is a systematic effort to replace scientific expertise with political ideology, to silence inconvenient facts, and to dismantle the institutions that protect public health. And it's accelerating — from revoking the scientific basis for climate regulation, to using wartime powers to mandate production of a probable carcinogen, to cutting HIV prevention funding from states that didn't vote for Trump.
The consequences will unfold over years and decades: preventable disease outbreaks, lives lost to cancelled research, scientific talent fleeing to other countries, reduced pandemic preparedness, unchecked environmental pollution, and a generation that grows up distrusting science itself.
This is not theoretical. These actions are happening right now, and the damage is already being done.
Primary Source
Trump Administration Attacks on Scientific Integrity
Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Minority Staff Report
Senator Blumenthal | September 9, 2025