Endangering Generations

The document outlines various ways the Trump administration has allegedly harmed children by ignoring scientific advice and weakening regulations. Key areas of concern include the failure to regulate neurotoxins like lead and chlorpyrifos, the lack of action on PFAS and asbestos, reduced food and product safety oversight, and the dismissal of climate science and child welfare standards at the US-Mexico border.

• The EPA has failed to adequately regulate lead in water, neglecting to require the replacement of 6 million lead water service lines and reducing the percentage of lines that must be replaced in communities that have reached the enforcement level.
• The EPA declined to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos on farmland despite internal scientific advice, potentially increasing risks to the brains and nervous systems of nearly 2 million children in agricultural communities.
• The EPA has delayed a government study on PFAS and has not required monitoring, testing, or cleanup for these chemicals; a UCS analysis indicates nearly 3 million children attend childcare or schools within five miles of a contaminated site.
• The EPA ignored recommendations from over a dozen scientists and lawyers to ban asbestos imports, a practice already adopted by 60 other nations, increasing the risk of mesothelioma in children.
• The Trump administration has weakened air pollution regulations for coal-fired power plants, oil and gas facilities, and industrial sites, and has dismissed climate science and the Paris climate agreement.
• Other federal rollbacks include USDA changes that increase meat inspection line speeds and reduce inspectors, CPSC elimination of the children's product defect team in 2018, and reductions in SNAP enrollment.
• The administration attempted to roll back child welfare standards at the US-Mexico border, resulting in thousands of children in detention and an estimated 5,400 children forcibly separated from parents.

APA

Reed, G., Desikan, A., & Kalman, C. (2020). Endangering Generations. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/science-and-democracy/endangering-generations-key-findings.pdf

Chicago

Reed, Genna, Anita Desikan, and Casey Kalman. Endangering Generations. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2020. https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/science-and-democracy/endangering-generations-key-findings.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Reed |first1=Genna |last2=Desikan |first2=Anita |last3=Kalman |first3=Casey |title=Endangering Generations |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=March 2020 |url=https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/science-and-democracy/endangering-generations-key-findings.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reed2020endangering, author = {Reed, Genna and Desikan, Anita and Kalman, Casey}, title = {{Endangering Generations}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = mar, url = {https://ucs-documents.s3.amazonaws.com/science-and-democracy/endangering-generations-key-findings.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }