USDA Banned From Releasing Scientific Studies

Buzzfeed reports:

The US Department of Agriculture has banned scientists and other employees in its main research division from publicly sharing everything from the summaries of scientific papers to USDA-branded tweets as it starts to adjust to life under the Trump administration, BuzzFeed News has learned.

According to an email sent Monday morning and obtained by BuzzFeed News, the department told staff — including some 2,000 scientists — at the agency’s main in-house research arm, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), to stop communicating with the public about taxpayer-funded work.

“Starting immediately and until further notice, ARS will not release any public-facing documents,” Sharon Drumm, chief of staff for ARS, wrote in a department-wide email shared with BuzzFeed News. “This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content,” she added.

Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue, a climate change denialist who once held a public prayer vigil for rain, is Trump’s nominee to head the Agriculture Department.