Last week, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. warned that the Trump administration might crack down on government scientists contributing to medical journals and instead create “in-house” medical publications. And it seems the administration is wasting no time in moving forward.
According to The Guardian, the administration essentially tongue-lashed two Department of Veteran Affairs scientists via email after they co-authored a report — published in the New England Journal of Medicine — highlighting how federal cuts could negatively affect patients’ health. Basically, the two scientists, Texas-based pulmonologists Pavan Ganapathiraju and Rebecca Traylor, said cuts at their agency could have disastrous effects on veterans’ respiratory health.
And that didn’t go over well with their bosses. The Guardian reported:
The edict, laid down in emails on Friday by Curt Cashour, the VA’s assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, and John Bartrum, a senior adviser to VA secretary Doug Collins, came hours after the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective co-authored by two pulmonologists who work for the VA in Texas.
“We have guidance for this,” wrote Cashour, a former Republican congressional aide and campaign consultant, attaching the journal article. “These people did not follow it.”
The Guardian reported further:
The article sparked an immediate rebuke from Trump’s political appointees, according to internal emails obtained by the Guardian. “We have noticed a number of academic articles and press articles recently,” Bartrum wrote, attaching a copy of the journal article. “Please remind the field and academic community that they need to follow the VA policy.”
Cashour, the assistant secretary, wrote that approval for publication in national media was delegated to his office. Local and regional directors were to inform Washington “as soon as possible” when situations exist “that have the potential for negative national exposure”.
The issue here seems obvious. I think Americans should want experts working for them who can offer scientifically based critiques or recommendations on U.S. policy, especially if their work is laid out sanely in a respected medical journal. The idea of such views potentially being suppressed not out of primary concern for public health but rather “the potential for negative national exposure,” as Bartrum suggested in his email, is worrisome. This kind of restriction seems to fit within the administration’s broader attack on scientific expertise, such as its rescission of federal research grants that is driving some scientists out of the country.
The VA’s press secretary, Peter Kasperowicz, said in a statement to MSNBC that requiring approval for contributions to medical journals is “VA policy that has been in place for several years across both Democrat and Republican administrations” and “requires VA employees to properly coordinate with public affairs staff prior to speaking with the media.” He added that “virtually every organization both inside and outside government has similar policies.” That claim was disputed by one of the authors, Ganapathiraju, who said his co-authored article was in full compliance and that VA rules encourage — but don’t require — coordination with public affairs professionals at the agency. It certainly looks like the Trump administration is engaging in academic censorship. And the fact that the administration’s major “in-house” health report has been a complete disaster doesn’t exactly paint this White House as trustworthy on the matter of scientific research.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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