Federally employed scientists at the United States Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency are being told not to speak to the press or publish on social medial about their research until further notice. According to reports, several of the agency’s grants were frozen. There is also a regulations and hiring freeze that was announced publicly. The staff were told not to speak publicly about the order.
The EPA is under a media blackout and the agency cannot post updates on social media, issue press releases or posts blogs communicating their most recent findings. EPA activities nationwide are expected to be immediately impacted by the orders.
Sharon Drumm, the chief of staff for USDA, stated in an email to Agriculture Research Service, USDA’s research department, that starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents. This includes but are not limited to news releases, fact sheets, photos, social medial content and news feeds.
Researchers are permitted to publish research in peer-reviewed journals. However directly speaking to the public and the press about research is a common method of these agencies to distribute information in the past. Christopher Bently, a spokesman for the department stated that US Department of Agriculture’s ARS values and is committed in maintaining free flow of information between the American public and the scientists as they strive to find solutions for agricultural problems that are affecting America as reported in an article by Across America Patch.
The Trump Administration imposed a freeze on grants and contracts of the EPA. The Department of Agriculture is not at the center of environmental controversy although it is the overseer of the U.S. Forest Service which has seen 30 years of logging controversy in the Tongass National Forrest in Southeast Alaska. Its research does include genetically modified foods which are subject to nationwide labeling battle as well as on the impact of pesticides as reported in an article by SF Gate.
