White House Budget Cuts Threaten Lead Poisoning Prevention, Spark Concerns Over Scientific Integrity
Washington, D.C. – proposed federal budget cuts are jeopardizing critical programs designed to remove lead from drinking water adn study the health impacts of toxic substances, raising alarms among public health researchers and advocates. The administration’s actions, announced throughout the summer of 2025, include rescinding funding for lead service line replacements – programs that have directly benefited homeowners – and slashing support for key U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Growth (HUD) initiatives.
These funding reductions are already forcing states to curtail lead remediation programs. Ohio, for exmaple, faces potential cuts to programs aimed at protecting children from lead poisoning, according to reports from August 11, 2025. The administration also proposed to slash funding for lead service line replacements-critical programs that my own home benefited from to get lead out of our drinking water.
Further compounding concerns, the EPA announced in May 2025 the closure of its Office of Research and Development (ORD), the agency’s independent research arm. The ORD has historically studied the risks associated with exposure to toxins like lead, asbestos, and PFAS chemicals. The office’s integrated science assessment for lead, updated in 2024, provides the scientific foundation for EPA’s regulation of lead levels in ambient air.
The dismantling of the ORD coincides with sweeping cuts to research grants focused on chemical exposures in children, despite stated commitments under the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. These cuts threaten to undermine the scientific basis for future funding and regulation of lead pollution and other environmental hazards.
“The systematic dismantling of our scientific and democratic systems affects our everyday lives, our families,” stated a public health researcher. ”While these actions are intentionally and viciously targeted to harm those who are most underserved, they impact us all. Authoritarianism makes us feel less safe in our neighborhoods, it makes our bills harder to pay, our health care harder to access, and stifles our ability to thrive and support our families and communities.”
