1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

President Trump issued an executive order that directs federal agencies to terminate their Scientific Integrity Policies and interfere in science-based decision making. As per Gretchen Goldman, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (https://www.ucs.org/) (UCS), “this executive order reveals how the Trump administration intends to weaponize science to undermine public health and safety protections. The order is part of the administration’s pattern of dismantling the U.S. science enterprise, including attacks on academic freedom at American universities and major cuts to federal research grants at the National Science Foundation, National Institutions of Health and elsewhere. Good science is essential to democracy. It allows the public to access peer-reviewed, objective data that helps people understand the world and hold decisionmakers accountable when their decisions contradict what evidence shows is in the public interest. This executive order is a thinly veiled attempt at supressing good science and doing away with studies that show how industry actions impact public health and the environment.” I urge you do what you can to prevent this from being implemented.