Study: Federal Scientists Warned About Undermining Science Before COVID-19

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has published a study in PLOS ONE that shows that a few years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists and experts within the federal government were concerned that the Trump administration was undermining scientific capacity and making it challenging for federal scientists to perform their work and share it with the public. The paper, Perceived losses of scientific integrity under the Trump administration: A survey of federal scientists, analyzed a 2018 survey of more than 63,000 federal scientists across 16 agencies done by UCS and Iowa State University’s Center for Survey Statistics & Methodology. “We found a pattern of neglect and political interference across the administration,” said Dr. Gretchen Goldman, Research Director at the Center for Science and Democracy (CSD) at UCS and a co-author of the study. “Half of the survey’s respondents said that it was harder for their agencies to make science-based decisions because of political appointees’ involvement. Scientists within the government were raising the alarm well before COVID-19 appeared on the horizon.” In their survey responses, scientists pointed out a number of challenges they faced, including workforce reductions, restrictions on public communication of information, political interference in scientific work, and adverse work environments. Read the paper at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231929   ...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news