Trump Admin Gutted Alcohol Research, CDC Program: STAT Probe
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- The Trump administration buried a report concluding light drinking poses health risks and altered federal dietary guidelines to eliminate suggested drinking limits.
- The administration closed the CDC's alcohol program and eliminated over half the staff at a federal agency focused on substance use.
- The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism removed information about health risks of moderate drinking from its website in January, according to archived versions of the page.
- The MAHA movement and its leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have largely sidestepped alcohol despite aggressively targeting seed oils, sugary drinks, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and childhood vaccines.
- Alcohol causes more deaths in the U.S. each year than infectious diseases and opioids combined, according to the source.
- Mike Marshall, CEO of the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, criticized the blind spot: "If you're truly committed to improving all of these different ills in society, and you're going to stay blind to alcohol, you're not really that committed to it."
Why it matters: Alcohol kills more Americans annually than infectious diseases and opioids combined, yet the administration is dismantling the evidence base—CDC program, staff, dietary guidance, website content—rather than expanding prevention, leaving public health infrastructure for the country's deadliest drug weaker with no replacement plan from Kennedy or MAHA.
