"Staff members who fought childhood lead exposure and those who worked on cancer clusters were among those fired from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a now former employee told The Hill.
The entire permanent staff of the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice was cut, according to one person who was among the approximately 200 fired from the division.
This division works on issues such as asthma and air pollution, climate change and health, childhood lead poisoning and cancer clusters.
The former employee noted that these divisions do crucial work to protect public health, pointing out, for example, that it helped discover lead contamination in applesauce pouches that were popular with kids.
The person also noted that the division had staffers who would be able to help respond in case there was a nuclear event such as an attack or nuclear plant meltdown."
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