Exactly what led President Donald Trump’s EPA to stop funding research centers tasked with probing environmental health threats to children?
One advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group (EWG), wants answers.
EWG said in a press statement Wednesday that it filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents, including electronic records and minutes of meetings, about the decision.
The Children’s Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Centers have existed thanks to a two-decade partnership between the EPA and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Currently, the network includes 13 centers at institutions, including Johns Hopkins University and the University of Southern California, which are conducting long-term studies on issues including the links between pollutants and allergens with asthma-related illnesses in minority children, and potential near-roadway air pollution impacts on the risk of childhood obesity and inflammatory issues.
“By combining scientific research and community engagement, the Children’s Centers have developed a national network of researchers, healthcare professionals, and community-based groups,” the government’s website says. “This network is addressing how exposure to environmental toxicants and living in unhealthy environments may contribute to a wide range of adverse health outcomes.”
“Research conducted by the Children’s Centers has been absolutely essential for scientists and communities to develop innovative solutions for protecting children’s health from environmental contaminants,” said Olga Naidenko, senior science advisor for children’s environmental health at EWG.
That research, however, is apparently no longer welcome—the agency quietly announced this month it would no longer fund the centers.
“This latest assault on children’s health is the opposite of what millions of Americans want,” said Naidenko, “which is a safe environment for their kids.”
Kathleen Rest, the executive director of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), discussed the defunding last week.
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In a blog post on the UCS website, Rest wrote that the centers have conducted “groundbreaking research” with tremendous impact:
But is the decision to cut funding surprising? Rest says no; it merely follows a pattern by the industry-friendly Trump administration.
Another advocacy group, Beyond Pesticides, called the development “yet another attack by the Trump administration on science, public health, and children and families, as well as another wink and nod to industries whose products harm.”
Beyond Pesticides created a petition calling on representatives to demand the children’s health centers get funding.
Cutting the funding, said Tracey Woodruff, who runs the children’s center at the University of California, San Francisco, “works out perfectly for industry.”
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