Since early 2025, several large federal health grants to states have been suspended and then restored after legal challenges. Hundreds of millions of dollars that had already been allocated by Congress were briefly put on hold before the court intervened. From the outside, these episodes may look like routine disputes between states and the federal government, as such cancellations do happen. But inside state agencies and in communities, they create something more consequential: uncertainty that interrupts crucial public health programs–even if states ultimately get the money.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is spreading doubts about the safety of vaccines and considering changes that could prompt manufacturers to flee the U.S. market.
In March 2026, CSPI’s Litigation Department took a stand for scientific integrity and public health, filing an amicus brief to challenge a Trump Administration Rule that threatens to deny tens of thousands of women access to FDA-approved contraceptives under their employer-sponsored health plans. The brief, which was filed on behalf of three former FDA officials, addresses the misleading and cherry-picked data cited by the Administration, as well as the rigorous science that goes into vetting FDA-approved contraceptives.
The FDA has taken down a webpage warning about therapies and products making “false claims” of treating autism. It’s part of a series of actions the agency has taken under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discredit long-established science.
In the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, USDA and HHS rejected many science-based recommendations and emphasized animal protein, butter, and full-fat dairy.
"We are writing to applaud the administration’s commitment to reforming the “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) loophole, which allows companies to introduce new food chemicals without US Food and Drug Administration review or disclosure. For decades, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an independent consumer advocacy organization, has advocated for the closure of the loophole, and we are pleased to see a reform proposal currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)."
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On April 2, 2025, CSPI’s Litigation Department and its co-counsel at the ACLU and Protect Democracy Project sued the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), challenging the new policy that led to the abrupt and unlawful cancellation of research grants and the halt of the application process for new grants.
