Washington, DC — The Trump White House is rolling out the next step in establishing political command over all federal scientific findings, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Guidance issued this week by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) mandates that agencies adopt new scientific integrity policies to implement nine vague values, but without limits on political suppression of research results.

Under the Trump plan, all decisions regarding an “evaluation of all scientific and technological information” shall be made by a “senior appointee…appointed by the President” without any requirement these officials have any scientific expertise. The new directives contain no avenue to appeal decisions made by these political appointees – no matter how unsupported or contradicted they are by science.

The OSTP guidance, unveiled on June 23, echoes Trump’s Executive Order issued one month prior declaring that “Gold Standard Science” must meet nine criteria in that it is 1) reproducible; 2) transparent; 3) recognizing of uncertainty; 4) collaborative and interdisciplinary; 5) skeptical of findings and assumptions; 6) structured for falsifiability of hypotheses; 7) subject to unbiased peer review; 8) accepting of “negative results as positive outcomes”; and 9) “without conflicts of interest.” Agencies have 60 days to translate these attributes into concrete policies.

“While these standards sound admirable, they are subject to political manipulation, precisely what the original scientific integrity policies were meant to prevent,” stated PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formerly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, referring to the scientific policies promulgated under President Obama in reaction to blatant interference with climate and other environmental science under President G.W. Bush. “Like the redecorated Oval Office, this is not a gold standard but an excess of gilt.”

PEER points to scientific actions under Trump that signal anything but high standards, such as –

• Knee-jerk rejection of the international scientific consensus on climate change;
• Dramatic cutbacks in scientific research, dismantlement of research programs, and attempted cancellation of billions of dollars in research grants; and
• A major report issued by Health and Human Services Secretary R.F. Kennedy apparently using AI-generated content that is riddled with references to nonexistent papers or mischaracterizations of real ones.

One major concern is that a new transparency policy which forbids the use of any scientific studies for which the underlying data cannot be made publicly available – even if it is the best available science – could sideline most epidemiological research. That research is the cornerstone of many vital public health protections and consequently has been a political target of industry.

“This guidance hijacks scientific ideals and requires perfect studies,” added Bennett. “Achieving all nine of these criteria in one study is extremely rare and opens the door for political appointees to reject good science for the wrong reasons.”

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See new OSTP science guidance

Read Trump “Science Gold Standard” Executive Order

Look at Trump’s horrific scientific track record

Examine Trump’s prior attack on epidemiological science