The Trump administration has continued its assault on scientific expertise. An analysis from a public health expert suggests that––more than simply tax cuts, ending regulatory oversight of corporations, or optimizing the privatization of government services––the undermining and destruction of public health expertise is part of President Trump’s larger culture war against universities, public schools, independent media, and other sources of civil society power.
JOSEPH FEINGLASS; [email protected]
Feinglass is a Research Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.
Feinglass told the Institute for Public Accuracy: “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have already been cut by 40 percent––everything from the Epidemic Intelligence Service to black lung clinic screenings. What is shocking me, as a researcher, is that there is data for researchers that is provided by the CDC that is gone. They have fired data sources that have been around for 30 and 40 years. The war on science and scientific expertise is reflected in the NIH cuts as well. Everyone there adds to the U.S. economy. They create jobs and income. Cutting the NIH is not going to improve the economic status of the U.S. The U.S. had previously been a world leader because of the NIH. NIH funding has been flat for many years anyway. But they have made it impossible to think about a career in scientific work. They’re firing younger people who have data science skills and the ability to actually improve the efficiency of government. Training programs, people who want to become a scientist or join the public health department, are the first to go. These people are looking for their first jobs, plus older people [who were laid off] are also now looking for a job. This is a catastrophic blow to those younger people.
“A lot of what the NIH does is under threat. GLP-1s, statins, drugs for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease––all those things will be set back enormously by what is happening. Chronic disease, the epidemic of obesity, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, stroke––all that scientific development research happens at NIH first. Drug companies come in and use the knowledge created by government research.
“Part of those 40 percent cuts to CDC are also research on maternal health, pregnancy, and childbirth outcomes. They are part of the collateral damage. Pregnancy and birth outcomes are already getting worse. The U.S. has poor health statistics: life expectancy is declining, pregnancy and birth outcomes are deteriorating. We rely on things like the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, which is a 40-state survey [run by CDC] and is the gold standard for tracking trends in those areas and the populations that are affected. We use that data and it reaches into our own local health department in Chicago. But they fired the entire thing; it’s gone. Eleven billion dollars in addiction and mental health. Programs to deal with improving overdose fatalities in the states––all cut. Twelve billion dollars in state and local health department cuts.
“The other serious parts are potential cuts to Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHC), to the Affordable Care Act, and to Medicaid. Millions of people rely on FQHC. The poor rely on that care, and that care [has been] a major step forward in our country relative to what existed before. Cutting FQHCs is a shorthand for cutting healthcare for the poor.”