The White House Scrapped the Science on Trichloroethylene—So We’re Urging the...
When Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists concluded that the chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) causes fetal heart defects, even at low doses, officials at the White House overrode their...
View ArticleWithout Clear Information from Leaders, We Face the COVID-19 Pandemic Alone
Last week, I biked from my family’s rural house to nearby Sister Bay, a picturesque town in eastern Wisconsin. Laughter spilled out from the windows of restaurants. Couples wandered in and out of...
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Worried for Government Science? So Are We.
A few weeks ago, my colleague chronicled a milestone for our organization and the country: We had just recorded the federal government’s 150th attack on science, carried out by the officials and...
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Who Gets the First COVID-19 Vaccines? The Answer is a Complex Tangle of...
The scale of the COVID-19 pandemic has jumpstarted an unprecedented frenzy of vaccine research, and dozens of vaccines have entered clinical trials. Forecasters predict that a vaccine could be approved...
View ArticleA UCS Guide to Involving the Public in Rulemaking
Today, the Union of Concerned Scientists is releasing its second batch of fact sheets to guide federal agencies toward science-based decisionmaking. One of these fact sheets, “Public Participation in...
View ArticleThe Census Crisis: Commerce Secretary Tightens Grip on a Vital Public Good
In defiance of a federal judge’s order to continue the 2020 census count through October 31 after the administration cut it short, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced a new deadline—October 5,...
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The Postal Service is Under Attack. Our Research Shows Who This Hurts Most
With just weeks until the 2020 election, the USPS is racing to prepare for a historic surge in mail-in voting. Our recent analysis of USPS records, which we received via Freedom of Information Act...
View ArticleSupreme Court Allows Census to Be Cut Short—and Considers Defying 150 Years...
On Tuesday, October 13, the Supreme Court ruled that the Census Bureau could end the 2020 census count early, marking an abrupt end to a months-long tussle over the Bureau’s census timeline. Then, only...
View ArticleMasks: What the Science Says, and What Lies Ahead
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, health experts have advised the public on the use of masks. Today, the consensus is clear—mask up!—but the whys and hows of mask-wearing have changed over time....
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Federal Agencies Have Lost Hundreds of Scientists Since 2017. What Comes Next?
First, the bad news: An analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists reveals that federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) have lost hundreds...
View ArticleFor Years, the Federal Workforce Languished. Congress is Planning to Revive It
During a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, congressional leaders and a panel of experts examined the state of the federal workforce—and talked through plans to bolster and protect civil servants...
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Let’s Toast to Open Government—It’s Sunshine Week!
Let’s start with three facts. When Steven Mnuchin was Trump’s Treasury Secretary, his plane travel cost taxpayers $1 million. The Trump White House sought to bury a government health study on PFAS, a...
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100 Days into Biden’s Presidency, Science Is Bouncing Back
One year ago today, the nation was enduring hell. 63,000 people in the US were dead from COVID-19. 20 million people had lost jobs. Political officials—desperate to hide the severity of the pandemic...
View ArticleHow to Stop the Dismantling of Democracy
In the last few years, many elected leaders have attacked voting rights, cast doubt on free and fair elections, and served private interests over the public good. To pull American democracy back from...
View ArticleThe White House Wants Your Advice on Improving Scientific Integrity
On January 27, the newly inaugurated president, Joe Biden, signed a historic memorandum outlining a bold vision for the future of science in government. Among other things, the memo created a task...
View ArticleCalling All Scientists: The Federal Government is Hiring
Here at the Union of Concerned Scientists, we have bad news and good news. First, the bad: The federal scientific workforce—in other words, the scientists and experts who work for the government on...
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Colorado is Burning. For Many Scientists, It’s Personal.
At 11 a.m. on December 30, 2021, I drove from my family’s home in Fort Collins, Colorado, to the Denver airport, excited for a trip to visit a friend. I boarded the plane around 1:45 p.m. The woman...
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