Chemical fertilizer plant near Bakersfield, California. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

The Trump regime has gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the agency responsible for vital workplace safety research. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have now thoroughly hollowed out this critical arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The cuts jeopardize the mission of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), which relies on NIOSH findings to determine everything from standards for personal protective equipment (PPE) to exposure limits for hazardous substances like silica dust or lead.

One of NIOSH’s core responsibilities is to test and certify personal protective equipment (PPE) — especially respirators like N95s — through its National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. NIOSH certification ensures that PPE protects wearers from airborne hazards under real-world conditions. Though PPE is the last resort in the hierarchy of controls, it is often the only thing standing between workers and serious harm when other protections fall short.

NIOSH also conducts and disseminates research on how and when different respirators should be used, contributing to evidence-based standards for industries ranging from healthcare and manufacturing to mining and firefighting. Its research supports OSHA in setting legal standards and shapes unions’ collective bargaining around workplace safety.

The COVID-19 pandemic further solidified NIOSH certification as an indispensable benchmark for quality and legitimacy in a marketplace flooded with unreliable products. The cuts have halted new NIOSH certifications for N95 respirators, effectively freezing the pipeline for new or improved respiratory protection when supply should be increasing. Why? For one, COVID-19 transmission continues to pose serious risks, and millions of Americans are living with Long COVID, a disabling condition that can be exacerbated by repeat infections.

The recent resurgence of measles in the US has also made airborne disease hazards a more salient consideration across the country, particularly for immunocompromised individuals whose neighbors refuse safe and effective vaccines. Meanwhile, agricultural workers are confronting the mounting threat of H5N1 influenza, which continues to surge among dairy cows and other animals amid inadequate surveillance and mitigation. And it’s not just infectious disease; with climate change worsening wildfire smoke, more people are encountering hazardous air on the job. Respirators are no longer niche safety equipment; they are becoming a core tool for public health.

This first appeared on CERP.

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This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org.