"Start the Data Scrubbing of Donald Trump."
Researchers have been collecting files from government websites for several months.
Key resources related to environmental data and public health have been removed from federal websites, and there are fears that more information could disappear as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle initiatives linked to climate change, racial equity, and gender identity. Warnings of a possible purge at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have circulated on social media, prompting many to save crucial data as quickly as possible. The CDC provides information on a variety of topics, ranging from chronic diseases to traffic injuries, tobacco use, vaccinations, and pregnancies in the United States, and it is just one of the agencies affected.
Researchers have been archiving government websites for several months. This kind of activity is common with each change of administration, but it has taken on a more urgent tone since Donald Trump's return to the presidency. During the first round of Trump's deregulation, up to 20% of the content on the Environmental Protection Agency's website was removed. Now, it seems that measures are being taken rapidly. In the past week, both the social vulnerability index and the environmental justice index from the CDC, used to assess disproportionate health risks in certain populations, have been taken offline.
These indices were developed by a group of social scientists, geographers, and statisticians in 2007, while the environmental justice index was launched in 2022. At that time, then-Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, emphasized that many communities, especially those of low income and of color, continue to face high levels of pollution, and that it was necessary to pay attention to their needs through the aforementioned index.
Since taking office, Trump has sought to reverse the efforts of previous administrations to address racial and gender-related health disparities. In an executive order aimed at eliminating Biden's previous policies, the president claimed that “diversity, equity, and inclusion” had “corrupted” government institutions, while arguing that “climate extremism” had driven up inflation and burdened businesses with regulations. During his first term, the use of the term “climate change” decreased by almost 40% on the websites of federal environmental agencies.
It is still early to assess the impact of these changes in this new administration, but some pages have already been suppressed. The U.S. Department of Transportation's “priorities” site removed sections on “climate and sustainability” and “equity,” following an internal memorandum instructing to identify and “terminate” activities related to climate change and Biden's DEI initiatives.
Trump’s efforts to limit foreign aid also seem to have resulted in the removal of information on HIV and AIDS, as the data page for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has provided antiviral treatment to more than 20.6 million people since 2003, was taken down this week.
The End of Term Web Archive project has captured content from federal government websites during each presidential transition since 2008. The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), which emerged after Trump's first election, also documents changes on these sites and works to make archived datasets available elsewhere. They have backed data from the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index and Environmental Justice Index, sharing them on a dedicated page of The Public Environmental Data Project.
However, while these datasets have been archived, their usefulness may be limited due to a lack of updates. “Any dataset has a lifespan,” warns Dan Pisut, senior engineer at GIS software company Esri. Outdated data may not accurately reflect reality, forcing people to be cautious in their usage. Despite the risks, many feel that “it’s better than nothing.”