Science is at the core of a healthy democracy. But for years, presidential administrations have, in differing ways, sidelined scientific evidence and attacked scientific integrity.
Below is a running list of attacks on science. They include disappearing data, silenced scientists, suppressed studies, and other assaults on science-based policy. The list provides a representative sample of threats to the federal scientific enterprise—and a warning of what we face in the future. More information can be found in our peer-reviewed study and in our data repository.
Attacks on science
![A closed sign on a store window.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-05/1500-900-sorry-closed-covid.jpg?itok=rH2i9a0f)
White House Buries CDC Report on COVID-19
![Researcher with face mask holding a bat.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-05/1500-900-covid-researcher-bat.jpg?itok=WXYW8Yos)
Trump Administration Axes Coronavirus Research
![Glass bottles of chemicals on a lab shelf.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-05/1500-900-clear-chemicals.jpg?itok=1QQcYRV_)
EPA Conceals Scientific Information on Hundreds of New, Potentially Dangerous Chemicals
![Soybeans.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-04/1500-900-pd-soybeans.jpg?itok=PtHGVj7V)
EPA Skirts Public Comment Process on Cancer-Causing Pesticide
![Trump Administration official Paul Souza.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-04/1500-900-paul-souza.jpg?itok=M8aqU-Ie)
Endangered Species Threatened in California due to Sidelining of Scientific Report
![CDC worker checks on person.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-04/1500-900-cdc-mask-gloves-talk.jpg?itok=XvbCTR4t)
OSHA is Failing to Record COVID-19 Cases For All Workers
![EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-03/1500-900-wheeler.jpg?itok=3-QzJbjo)
Decisionmaking Process at EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board has Become More Secretive
![A polar bear underwater.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-03/1500-900-polar-bear-underwater.jpg?itok=lUcnRX5O)
Polar Bear Study Opened Up for Public Comment Period to Undermine its Findings
![A model of a human heart.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-03/1500-900-heart-model.jpg?itok=koX7QjhD)
White House Directs EPA Scientists to Downplay a Chemical’s Link to Heart Defects
![The Upper Klamath River in Oregon.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-03/1500-900-upper-klamath-river.jpg?itok=UF7LTUKY)