David Michaels

Late last month, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a document detailing its vision for scientific integrity. Its nine tenets, first laid out in President Donald Trump’s executive order for “Restoring Gold Standard Science,” seem anodyne enough: They include calls for federal and federally supported science to be reproducible and transparent, communicative of error and uncertainty, and subject to unbiased peer review.

A person who has severe silicosis has to fight for every breath. A short walk that should take just 20 minutes can take an hour. Climbing stairs, carrying groceries, and normal recreational activities are distant memories.
Silicosis is typically caused by years of breathing in silica dust at work, and can worsen even after work exposures stop.