NIOSH Allies Call for Reversal of Agency Cuts
More than 100 members of Congress have signed a letter to President Trump and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calling for a reversal of the administration’s decision to eliminate most NIOSH staff positions. Noting the role NIOSH has played in research preventing occupational exposure to hazards, supporting those who became ill while working on nuclear weapons, protecting workers from the anthrax attacks in 2001, and assisting first responders following 9/11, the letter (PDF) urges “the immediate reinstatement of all employees and contractors who have been impacted” by the staff reductions.
Meanwhile, AIHA initiated its own Restore NIOSH campaign, calling on members to use a new tool on the association website to send prefilled template letters to their senators and representatives encouraging them to support NIOSH. A background document (PDF) with talking points about the value of NIOSH is available for members who want to customize their letters.
Other groups calling for reinstatement of agency personnel include the “Friends of NIOSH,” a coalition of organizations dedicated to research and prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses. AIHA is among the 460 signatories of a Friends of NIOSH letter (PDF) urging the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees to “do everything possible to reverse this misguided move immediately so that NIOSH’s vital mission continues.”
The planned cuts, which are scheduled to take effect June 1, will reduce the NIOSH workforce from approximately 1,400 full- and part-time employees to fewer than 150. Nearly all NIOSH programs and divisions will be eliminated. What remains of the agency, the World Trade Center Health Program and the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, will be incorporated into a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America, although news reports have questioned whether enough staff will be retained for those programs to operate effectively.
The cuts to NIOSH were part of a larger round of layoffs affecting multiple agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy later said that as much as 20 percent of HHS terminations were made in error and that some staff would be reinstated. It was not immediately clear whether these reinstatements would include NIOSH personnel. Kennedy mentioned CDC’s Lead Poisoning and Prevention Surveillance Branch as an example of staff who were mistakenly let go.
As OEHS professionals contemplate a future without NIOSH, some are grappling with how to replace the agency’s essential functions. A recent post to LinkedIn by Susan M. Moore, associate director of science for the NIOSH National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, raises questions about the performance of respirator approvals. As Moore explains, this role involves “performing hazard analyses, standards development, product testing, quality assurance, and post-market surveillance.” Her post invites OEHS professionals to discuss alternative models for fulfilling these responsibilities.
