Shortly after his second appointment, President Trump plays a key role in human health, cuts funding for medical research, halts global health aid, and fires workers' scores at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention We have begun to seriously cut down the institutions and programs that have been involved. .
But the Trump and Elon Musk-led campaign to reduce government has hollowed out agencies and programs to protect plant and animal health. The recent wave of mass firing has been addressed in response to the country's growing bird flu outbreak, preventing crops from damaging pests, and ensuring the safety of pet foods and medicines, and other important obligations They clashed with federal workers to secure it.
The government has cancelled some of these fires, but the firing, combined with federal employment freezes and offers to buy, is running out of ranks in federal programs where employees and resources are already scarce. said.
Damage can last long. Workers who escaped jobs said the upheaval left their eyes at the exit, and graduate students said they were reconsidering their federal careers. A shrinking workforce also has widespread consequences for trade and food security, failing to address future threats and animal health without a nation, experts said.
“These were really indiscriminate shots,” said John Ternesto, who lost his job at the US Department of Agriculture. “I don't know what I lost until it could be too late.”
Plant and Animal Inspector
The recent wave of shootings has focused on around 200,000 “probation” employees of the federal government, who have had less employment protections as they are relatively new to their position. (For some roles, the probationary period can take up to three years, and can also be reset when a long-time employee is promoted.)
The exact size and scope of unemployment remained unknown, and the USDA did not answer questions regarding the number of workers fired or resurrected at some of its agencies.
However, in an email statement, a USDA spokesman said new Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins said, “Optimizing government operations and eliminating inefficiencies, and American farmers, ranchers and farm communities.” “We fully support President Trump's order to strengthen USDA capabilities that are suitable for this.”
Reports suggest that the department has lost thousands of employees.
This includes about 400 people who worked for the animal and plant health testing service, according to one USDA official who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. The plant protection and quarantine program within APHIS was particularly big, losing more than 200 employees, including agricultural inspectors, entomologists, taxonomists and even tree climbers who investigated pests, Officials said.
Some of the fired workers were responsible for fighting invasive, plant-killing insects, such as the long-hole beetle in Asia, within the border. Others worked to ensure that the produce that entered and left the country was free of pests and pathogens. Exotic fruits pose special risks to American agriculture, including the citrus and berry industry.
According to USDA officials, the end has already caused import delays at the country's ports. For a long period of time, if agricultural pests and pathogens invade the country, it can invade the country's own crops, threaten food security and reduce the demand for American agricultural products overseas.
“If the US has a reputation for having dirty products, does that mean other countries will step in and say, 'Hey, we don't want to buy your products'? “The official said.
Dr. Joseph Anelli, executive vice president of the National Federation of Veterinary Association, also collided with the veterinary services program, which encourages imported livestock to play a key role in disease testing and the country's response to avian influenza.
The USDA promptly rehired some of the employees involved in the avian flu reaction, suggesting that their firing was a mistake. But even before the recent firing, the government was short on veterinarians, Dr. Anelli said. “We didn't have enough staffing for at least 10 years,” he said. “We need more veterinarians.
The agency was in the midst of hiring additional people to help with the avian flu response, Dr. Annelli said, but said the process was pending due to a federal hiring freeze.
The remaining workers are nervous about the long-term stability of their work. “I'm not very optimistic,” said a current Veterinary Department employee who has requested anonymity to avoid retaliation and has already applied for another position outside the US government.
Agricultural Scientist
Approximately 800 people, including research institute leaders, have been fired from the USDA's internal medicine institution, Agricultural Research Services.
The firing suddenly stopped a wide range of research projects, leaving engineers and students working in these labs at Limbo.
Isaco di Tomasi, a Cornell graduate student who worked in the lab, said one New York lab investigated the potential outbreak of potato disease, which led scientists had fired. He said that he was. Potato samples from large commercial farms are now trapped in closed labs, “until untold and untested,” Di Tomasi said.
Scientists and statisticians working at the National Center for Carnivorous Research in Nebraska, studying livestock genetics and breeding, have also finished, including those working on a food safety and salmonella testing research project. The fire has challenged the Republican Congressional delegation in Nebrascus and industry groups.
“We understand and respect the federal government's desire to reduce wasteful spending, but the truth behind the issue is that the US mark does not fall into that category,” the Nebraska Cattle Association states. It is stated in. The work being carried out at the centre continued, “is likely to reduce the costs of the beef industry in the long term and improve food safety for consumers.”
It's not all, but not all, of government scientists, it's back this week. Still, mass shootings could cause permanent reputational damage to the engine, they said.
“I think people who want to take science seriously will remember seeing these decisions and how scientists are treated,” he said, being fired and re-employed to protect their duties. The agricultural researcher who requested anonymity said.
In the interview, some graduate students in agricultural science said they are no longer sure if they will be able to build a research career in the federal government.
“My future as a scientist seems very uncertain right now,” Di Tomasi said.
“It's a big deal to gain the status of a federal scientist,” she added. “It's not easy, and all of that investment has been left.”
Animal health regulators
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are primarily related to human health, but the agency has zoonotic infections that include invasion of animals, particularly invasion of the United States, rather than being able to carry pathogens. We also aim to prevent the condition.
For example, the agency does not allow dogs that have recently been in countries with a high rabies prevalence to enter the United States unless the disease has been offset by the disease. CDC officers also examine Port Authority animals and quarantine or quarantine animals exposed to dangerous pathogens.
However, the Trump administration recently rejected about half of the CDC employees at the agency's 20 port health centers, leaving some stations completely unattended.
Last week, PR's appeal to the Port Authority in San Juan was re-routed to a Miami station. There, a CDC employee who refused to be identified said there was no one at the San Juan Post “for a very long time.”
The worker was also fired from the Food and Drug Administration Center for Veterinary Medicine. Some affected people were working to review data on new animal medicines and to ensure that pet food and animal feed were free of contaminants.
These teams are already short, the two fired employees said. They worried that the loss would slow approval of new animal drugs and could even fall through cracks.
“It's a safety structure gap,” one employee said. “They're a big challenge and no one else takes it on, that's the government's job.”
Linda Qiu contributed the report.
