New UCS Tool Tracks Trump Administration's Attacks on Science

Between January 20, 2025, and May 30, 2026, the Trump administration carried out 574 attacks on science, including efforts to politicize research funding, fire or sideline federal scientific experts, censor scientific communications, weaken scientific integrity protections, and place political appointees and advisors with records of promoting misinformation or anti-science views into decision-making positions. Of those attacks, 343 impact public health and safety. One hundred and eighty-seven attacks were classified as potential scientific integrity violations under the current text of the proposed Scientific Integrity Act.

"The consequences of these attacks impact real people-limiting access to information and services related to life-or-death issues such as severe weather, contagious diseases and food safety," said Dr. Jules Barbati-Dajches, analyst for the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS.

The Tracker was developed in response to the increased scope and severity of attacks on science during the second Trump administration and serves as a record of anti-science actions. It reveals a pattern of political interference affecting federal agencies, scientific research, public health protections and the federal scientific workforce.

Under the Trump administration, the federal government terminated a successful flu vaccine campaign amid an extremely harsh season. It also pulled back regulations of forever chemicals, or PFAS, which have been linked to cancer and health issues. In one instance, it approved two new pesticides with those chemicals for use on food. Additionally, it gave coal and oil burning power plants a free pass to increase emissions of chemicals that can harm babies' brains and cause heart disease. These are only a few examples of anti-science actions captured in the Tracker over the last 17 months.

"The Attacks on Science Tracker shows how the Trump administration has put politics ahead of scientific evidence and public wellbeing," said Dr. Barbati-Dajches. "Documenting these attacks as they occur can help hold government officials accountable, prevent these actions from becoming normalized or forgotten, and emphasize the need for scientific integrity protections."

The Tracker allows users to filter and analyze attacks on science and potential scientific integrity violations by federal agency, public policy area, type of attack and whether attack impacts are visible yet. Users can generate custom visualizations on this platform to better understand emerging trends and patterns. UCS will routinely update the tracker to ensure the public has access to current information.

"The harm caused by these attacks on science will extend far beyond this administration," said Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Research halted today, scientific expertise pushed out of government, and weakened safeguards can have consequences for years to come-from fewer medical breakthroughs to worsened air and water pollution and increased threats to our food and product safety."

The scale of these attacks illustrates the urgent need for passing the Scientific Integrity Act and for stronger scientific integrity protections throughout the federal government.

"Political interference in science is not inevitable," said Dr. Barbati-Dajches. "Strong scientific integrity protections can help safeguard federal scientists, protect evidence-based decision making and ensure science serves the public interest, not political agendas."