The true gravity of Trump’s war on science
Once a world leader when it came to scientific research, the United States has taken a hard turn on its stance regarding science, as the Trump Administration has implemented significant research funding cuts.
Over the past six months, the United States has seen unprecedented levels of scientific research funding cuts, stretching across multiple disciplines. These sweeping cuts stem from Donald Trump’s apparent clashing with many scientific fields. This is incredibly contradictory to the US’s historic scientific endeavours, which saw the first man on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission, the invention of the aeroplane by the Wright Brothers, and the revolutionary Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. In total, the US has won more Nobel Prizes in science than the rest of the world put together. In the year 2024, prior to these research cuts, the US was projected to spend more money than any other country on research and development (R&D), to a total of $1 trillion USD. Current research cuts show a stark contrast to what once was. So far, research cuts have amounted to billions of dollars across different fields. The areas most affected by research cuts include climate sciences and social sciences.
With R&D funding cuts, there will be many wide-ranging effects for the everyday person. One such effect is job losses in the science sector, which will not only be negative for the economy, but may also discourage people from pursuing science altogether—leading to the loss of many potential scientists, who could have tackled a variety of current world issues. Another consequence is a shift from preventative measures to an increasing prevalence of completely avoidable conditions, such as environmental exposures like air pollution. Funding cuts also means it takes longer to develop new drugs for diseases, which are then brought to market at a higher price to offset what has been lost through funding. These effects are something that, if prevented or minimized from the start thanks to research, can be far less serious. These are simply a few of the impacts that everyday people will shoulder.
But it goes farther than that. These intense research cuts represent a deeper problem in the US. The villainisation of science and rise of anti-intellectualism has been increasing steadily in the past few years, but has now come to a head with the current administration cutting research funding and pushing scientific voices out of policy discussions. Just ten years ago, something of this magnitude would have been unimaginable. Having taken on such a large role in how we understand our world, scientific voices must have a say in how we make policies that affect the world, and should be able to freely voice the consequences of any one policy.
With how influential the US is, are other countries at risk of following Trump in his anti-science sentiments and cutting research funding?