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
![Two polar bears standing near each other.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-polar-bear-vibing.jpg?itok=g0BTc3xn)
Polar Bear Study by USGS Scientists Shelved for Three Months
![The top of a barbed wire fence.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-barbed-wire.jpg?itok=hlE24ukt)
CDC Scientists Sidelined in Decision to Seal US Border
![A syringe being filled with a vaccine.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-vaccine-needle.jpg?itok=7kzfvpWg)
White House Blocks FDA’s Vaccine Guidance Document
![School children sit at individual, spaced out, lunch tables.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-social-distance-lunch-school.jpg?itok=VReyB2r3)
CDC Scientists Repeatedly Pressured to Downplay the Risks of School Reopenings During Pandemic
![Pigs crammed in a truck.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-pig-in-truck.jpg?itok=gpHRmw1O)
CDC Report on a Pork Plant’s COVID-19 Outbreak was Watered Down
![A stop sign in front of a construction site.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-10/1500-900-stop-construction.jpg?itok=dBKWL7_q)
Fifty-Year-Old Science-Based Legislation, NEPA, is Gutted
![A masked school teacher, wiping down her classroom.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-09/1500-900-mask-teacher.jpg?itok=I9yubWx-)
CDC Reports on COVID-19 were Delayed or Edited by HHS Political Appointees
![A copy of the 2020 Census.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-09/1500-900-census.jpg?itok=OJJLJZEy)
Census Bureau Tightens its Counting Timeline, Endangering the Accuracy of 2020 Census
![Gloved doctor holds a COVID-19 test marked "positive."](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-09/1500-900-positiv-covid-test.jpg?itok=mvwsMYpM)
FDA Now Lacks Authority to Halt Use of Inaccurate Coronavirus Tests
![A gloved doctor holds a swab test.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/2020-09/1500-900-swab-test.jpg?itok=hrrHmyFk)