Public health and environmental protection are deeply intertwined - and attacks on one affect the other. From a recent study:

Lead (Pb) is well known to be toxic to humans. We use archived hair from individuals living along the Wasatch Front in Utah to evaluate changes in exposure to lead over the last 100 years. Current concentrations of lead in hair from this population average almost 100 times lower than before the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. This low level of lead exposure is likely due to the environmental regulations established by Environmental Protection Agency.

Cerling et al. Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency, PNAS 123(6):e2525498123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2525498123 (2026).

In March last year the Trump administration announced plans to deregulate most of the EPA’s functions.