A coalition of European Editors-in-Chief to a wide array of toxicology journals published an editorial highlighting the extensive consequences of the Trump administration’s layoffs within U.S. regulatory agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, The National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This editorial was jointly authored by the editors-in-chief of Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology, Current Opinion in Toxicology, Chemico-Biological Interactions, Computational Toxicology, Journal of Toxicology and Regulatory Policy, Altex, Reproductive Toxicology, Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, Toxicology in Vitro, Toxicology Letters, Toxicology, NAM Journal, and Food and Chemical Toxicology.
In short:
- Budget cuts at the FDA will impact food safety and the regulation of drugs and medical devices, and will threaten patients’ access to life-saving treatments.
- Reductions to the EPA workforce will hurt the agency’s ability to ensure safe access to basic necessities like clean air and water.
- Layoffs will also result in the loss of government toxicologists, impairing chemical testing and leaving consumers exposed to unsafe products.
Key quote:
“This situation has raised our serious concerns regarding the future of public health, environmental protection, and scientific progress in the United States. As we examine the implications of these recent workforce reductions, it becomes increasingly evident that…. they pose a threat to the very foundation of regulatory science and the safeguarding of public welfare and environmental health and thus will impact negatively on the safety of food, water, air and medicines for every American.”
Why this matters:
The Trump administration’s attack on science and American public health agencies has raised alarm bells worldwide. Institutional knowledge decades in the making will be lost, leading to profound health effects worldwide.
Related EHN coverage:
- An open letter from EPA staff to the American public
- Opinion: I live in Flint, Michigan. Shuttering environmental justice at EPA hurts communities like mine.
More resources:
Webinar May 8: Changes at NIH: What do they mean for environmental health? Featuring Dr. Linda Birnbaum, former Director of NIEHS. Sponsored by the EDC Strategies Partnership.
van den Berg, Martin et al. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology. Apr. 25, 2025
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