March 27, 2025

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this morning that 10,000 permanent jobs would be cut from the agencies under its control, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The new cuts are in addition to the 10,000 people already fired or bought out through early retirement packages.

The combined cuts has reduced the workforce of HHS by almost 25%.

The cuts are to be accompanied by a consolidation of the department’s various divisions from 28 down to 15.

What is being cut

The largest reduction will be felt at the FDA, which will lose an additional 3500 full-time employees out of what had been a workforce of approximately 18,000 people under the Biden administration.

The CDC will lose an additional 2400 employees, and the NIH will lose 1200.

According to the Fact Sheet accompanying the news release, “The consolidation and cuts are designed not only to save money, but to make the organization more efficient and more responsive to Americans’ needs, and to implement the Make America Healthy Again goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic.”

What does this mean for food safety?

The goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic is laudable, and a review of the safety of food additives, artificial colors, and other non-essential ingredients is long overdue.

However, the FDA is being tasked with undertaking a major new program while at the same time digesting a major reduction in workforce.

Something’s got to give.

So far, there have been no specifics given as to what personnel will be cut within the FDA. Will it be laboratory services? Inspection staff? Research teams?

Just the latest in a series of questionable actions

The US food safety and disease prevention systems are under attack. Consider this partial list:

RFK, Jr., the HHS Secretary, has suggested allowing the bird flu epidemic to run its course in order to identify immune birds. He’s had some support from the Secretary of Agriculture for this approach. The virus already has jumped from poultry to dairy cattle and to a myriad of small mammals (including domestic and farm cats). Imagine the increased opportunity for mutations if the virus is allowed to spread unchecked.
RFK, Jr. encouraged the use of cod liver oil or vitamin A supplements as an alternative to vaccination to prevent the spread of measles, taking out of context studies conducted in low-income countries where vitamin A deficiency is common. As a result, doctors in Texas are encountering children suffering from vitamin A overdoses.
The NIH is ending grants for Covid-19 research, including the development of antiviral drugs.
The US government has arranged to purchase eggs from Turkey in order to bring down the price of eggs in the US, even though Turkey has a documented high level of Salmonella and bird flu contamination in its eggs, thus exposing US consumers to increased risk of infection with these pathogens.
The US government has terminated 60 federal grants to universities in support of HIV research.
The CDC has pulled $11 billion in funding to state and local health departments across the US. The funds were earmarked for Covid testing, vaccination, and related programs.
The NIH is terminating grants for programs to study vaccine hesitancy and to encourage vaccine uptake. This is directly in line with RFK, Jr.’s widely publicized vaccine skepticism.
The Trump administration has withdrawn from the World Health Organization and has terminated USAID programs that funded vaccination efforts in third-world countries.

And there will be more to come. While claiming to attack chronic diseases, the actions taken so far are making the US population more susceptible to the spread of acute illnesses. If this keeps up, I predict a noticeable rise in child mortality rates and infectious disease outbreaks across the USA.

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IN MY OPINION

The proposed new US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) organization structure leaves the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) sucking on a hind teat.

Never a major player in the FDA heirarchy, the CVM has been formally excluded from the Human Foods Program, with only a dotted line connecting it to the Office of the Deputy Commissioner.

Although the CVM will report directly to the Office of the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, its relatively small budget and political profile will leave this essential element of food safety and nutrition with little voice or influence at the table.

Why does this matter?

The CVM is responsible for oversight of animal feed, pet foods and veterinary medicines.

If animal feeds are not properly regulated and supervised, animal nutrition–and ultimately human nutrition–suffers.

If veterinary medicines are not properly regulated and supervised, the health of livestock and the safety of the human diet suffers.

If pet foods are not properly regulated and supervised, the health of companion animals suffers.

Pet health matters

Pets play an important role in the mental and physical health of their human companions.

Those of us who have lost a dog, cat, or other pet to illness, accidents, or simply old age, understand the grief that this loss entails.

In addition, if an animal develops a gastrointestinal illness such as salmonellosis as a result of contaminated pet food, this illness can be passed along to people in the same household.

This is not speculation.

Kibble, raw pet foods, and pet treats contaminated with Salmonella have caused several outbreaks of human illness large enough to attract the attention of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Without a strong voice at the budget table, the CVM will not have the resources to oversee the pet food industry.

We have seen what has happened in the past when a pet food manufacturer has been allowed to operate on a “voluntary compliance” basis. More often than is healthy, the emphasis is on voluntary, and compliance falls by the wayside.

Can this be fixed?

I realize that the CVM has elements both of food and of pharmaceuticals in its regulatory portfolio.

Nevertheless, every component of the CVM’s mandate–animal feed, animal medications, pet food–indirectly supports the safety and nutriton of human or animal food.

I would propose that the scope of the proposed new directorate be expanded to include the CVM, and that the word “Human” be dropped from the title of the new Deputy Commissioner.