Consequences of Trump's 'Egregious' War on Science Mount as People and Planet Suffer

With the Trump administration regularly putting its right-wing ideology ahead of scientific data and the common good, scientists are taking stock of the tangible damage President Donald Trump has done to the environment and public health as a direct result of the War on Science, two years into his term.

Public health organizations and former government officials told the Guardian Wednesday about ways in which hostility toward science within numerous federal agencies have led to funding cuts for vital programs, dangerous regulatory rollbacks, and a severe lack of transparency on scientific facts from the government.

Former surgeon general Richard Carmona, who worked under the George W. Bush administration, characterized Trump’s attack on facts and evidence as “egregious” and told the Guardian it comes “from the very top with the president just denying the existence of science, manipulating the system on behalf of special interests.”

“The idea of there being political appointees who try to impose their political agenda in a way that is contrary to scientific evidence is not a new thing—but it has reached an entirely new level in the Trump administration.” —Conservation ColoradoThe administration dismissed studies showing that healthier school lunch standards introduced by the Obama administration were effective in schools and could prevent nearly two million childhood obesity cases over the next decade, and instead rolled back the new standards in December.

Trump has also cut grants for comprehensive sex education programs, instead promoting abstinence-only education—which did nothing to reduce teen pregnancy rates under the Bush administration, according to a government report.