Many have expressed concern that people in the United States are much less safe today than they were yesterday , after the Trump disposal , through Elon Musk ’s Department of Government Efficiency and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , begin the process of firingaround 10,000 peoplefrom authority under the Department of Health and Human Services , with just as many expected to take early retreat .

The agencies impacted include the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) , and the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) .

TheFDAinspects and sets the safety standards for medication , baccy , and food in the US . It is responsible , for example , for announcing the recollection of contaminated nutrient that may salute a peril to the world , such as in the recent recalls ofcookie doughandcucumbers . The agency is set to lose3,500 employees .

Preventing disease of all causes and tracking the spread of disease already present is the caper of theCDC . It also has programs to track mortality from violence , smoking , climate change , and other wellness risks . It is set to see around 2,400 job cut , withreportsthat at least nine high - level music director have been fired . program handle enate and tiddler wellness , HIV and AIDS , hurt bar , and improving work safety have also reportedly seen significant cuts .

The CDC is also monitoring the currentbird fluandmeaslesoutbreaks in the US.Prior to the proclamation of the line cut , mass had called into doubt Health Secretary Kennedy’splan for tackling birdie flu , while his title about vitamin A reducing measles deathrate have alsosparked concernamong doctors .

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ( CMS ) is cutting 300 job , while the NIH , which fund inquiry into the cures for cancer , Alzheimer ’s , HIV , and more , is losing 1,200 employees . WIREDreports that at least 10 principal investigators leading cutting - boundary enquiry have been fire . That include Dr Richard J. Youle , who gain ground theBreakthrough Prize in 2021for his contribution to understanding the role of cell death in Parkinson ’s and other neurodegenerative diseases .

In our insurance coverage of theTrump administration ’s onslaught on scienceback in January , a pupil whose identity we prevent anon. for their condom say : “ I just have one query for the parties responsible : what do you trust to gain for society by halting scientific discipline ? ” Amid these latest cuts , the question continue exhort – and unanswered .

Trump has a history of bad blood toward the NIH . In 2020 , face accusal that his administration had failed to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic – which had led to the death ofover 400,000 peoplein the US by the time Trump left post – he attacked the NIHin what many saw as an attempt to pitch the blame . A scandal also arose when a Trump wellness appointee , Michael Caputo , attempt to restricta scientific publicationfrom the CDC during the COVID pandemic in 2020 , as its determination went against the electronic messaging from the White House .

The US healthcare system is also the most expensive among high - income countries , both per person and as a percentage of its Gross Domestic Product ( GDP ) . Nearly18 percentof the state ’s GDP is spend on health care , and yet people in the United States typically die younger and are less hefty than residents of other gamey - income countries . The radical cuts to wellness agency and section have some interested that these negative statistics will only worsen .

“ The cutting today at CDC targeted programs that address all aspects of American life , ” a source at the CDC toldWIRED . “ This will lead to bad health outcomes , great risks to the US world , and will contribute to the decline in US life anticipation … program that were eliminated stock office across the country , in blood-red and blue districts . ”