If not reversed, these actions will make Americans sicker and less safe and will increase health care costs for families and communities.
April 1, 2025 (New York, NY) – The decision to dramatically cut staff and programs at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) makes Americans less safe. The agency has been the flagship of public health for generations. CDC has worked 24/7 to protect Americans from threats, whether those threats are naturally occurring or man-made, arising in the U.S. or anywhere in the world, and infectious or otherwise. Now, CDC will not be able to protect Americans from threats from other parts of the world or from the diseases that kill and disable most Americans. This isn’t a recipe for making America healthier, it’s a recipe for disaster.
Although details are still emerging, what is clear so far is that cuts to CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) and the CDC Global Health Center are particularly concerning. Reducing or eliminating these programs won’t “trim the fat” – they will undermine our ability to prevent deaths from tobacco and disease outbreaks.
OSH helps prevent tobacco use – especially among kids. No other part of the federal government tracks tobacco use, supports comprehensive action at the community level, and counters threats such as new forms of tobacco products. Weakening tobacco prevention is a gift to Big Tobacco that would guarantee more addiction, disease, and death. We need to strengthen – not eliminate – CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health.
Every year, CDC’s global disease detection program investigates hundreds of outbreaks, ranging from bird flu to dengue to mpox and other infections. It’s less expensive, safer, and more effective to stop health threats when and where they emerge than fight them in our country. Cuts to CDC’s global work will cost lives, damage America’s reputation, and weaken our economy.
Every agency can be improved and we need to have a government that operates efficiently. But today’s cuts weren’t just made to administrative staff who were duplicating efforts – entire programs that have been saving lives are gone. If the Administration is serious about addressing health threats, they would thoughtfully support or expand these programs, not reduce or eliminate them.