Surveying the US Food and Drug Administration Scientist Voices under President Biden

A 2022 survey of FDA scientists by the Union of Concerned Scientists indicates a generally positive view of scientific integrity and a higher comfort level in expressing concerns without retaliation compared to previous administrations. While 198 of 239 respondents found agency actions consistent with scientific findings and 177 of 253 felt COVID-19 science informed policy, 50 of 236 scientists reported that senior leaders with conflicts of interest inappropriately influenced decisions.

• A majority of surveyed FDA scientists believe the agency's actions align with scientific evidence and that COVID-19 research informed policy. Specifically, 198 out of 239 scientists agreed that agency actions were always or frequently consistent with scientific findings, and 177 out of 253 felt scientific work on COVID-19 consistently informed policy decisions.
• FDA scientists report a higher level of comfort in expressing concerns without fear of retaliation than in any previous Union of Concerned Scientists survey, with 175 out of 261 scientists agreeing on this point.
• Despite overall positive perspectives, a persistent minority of scientists believe that conflicts of interest among senior leaders inappropriately affect agency decisions. In the 2022 survey, 50 out of 236 scientists held this view, and the document notes that one-fifth to one-fourth of respondents reported this issue across surveys in 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2022.
• The Union of Concerned Scientists recommends that Congress pass the Scientific Integrity Act and that the FDA strengthen its scientific integrity policy following guidance from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and its Scientific Integrity Taskforce.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2023). Surveying the US Food and Drug Administration Scientist Voices under President Biden. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/fed%20sci%20survey%202023_FDA_final.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Surveying the US Food and Drug Administration Scientist Voices under President Biden. 2023. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/fed%20sci%20survey%202023_FDA_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Surveying the US Food and Drug Administration Scientist Voices under President Biden |date=February 2023 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/fed%20sci%20survey%202023_FDA_final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2023surveying, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Surveying the US Food and Drug Administration Scientist Voices under President Biden}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2023}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2023-02/fed%20sci%20survey%202023_FDA_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }