WASHINGTON – The Department of Health and Human Services’ layoff of10,000 employees took effect today, bringing the total HHS job cuts under the Trump administration to 20,000.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slashing employee levels at key agencies including the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Environmental Working Group is questioning how the staff reductions might affect the agencies’ oversight of food safety and other critical programs.
As first reported byThe Wall Street Journal, the cuts include:
• 3,500 FDA employees, representing roughly 19 percent of its total workforce.
• 2,400 CDC workers, roughly 18 percent of its staff.
• 1,200 NIH personnel, equivalent to approximately 6 percent of its workforce.
The following is a statement fromEWG President Ken Cook:
This isn’t about fiscal responsibility — it’s a deliberate attack on science to fund massive tax giveaways for billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
The FDA, CDC, and NIH are essential to protecting public health, from safeguarding our food to advancing critical disease research. These agencies do the important public health work that the private sector can’t or won’t do, because there isn’t any profit to be made.
Rebuilding what RFK Jr. and Trump are destroying will take a generation or longer to rebuild – if ever.
The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.