Americans’ health at risk as Trump cuts EPA staff to 1980s levels, experts warn

Advocacy groups say gutting EPA's scientific research arm would turn it into a purely political agency

Americans' health is being put at risk after new cuts were announced by Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce staffing to 1980s levels and gut its scientific research arm, experts and advocacy groups warned.

The EPA's administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced on Friday that the agency would slash its budget by $300m in the fiscal year 2026 as part of a broad overhaul that he said was designed to cut it to levels resembling those in the Reagan administration.