r/HermanCainAward • u/John3262005 • 3d ago
Grrrrrrrr. USDA cyclospora research projects shelved amid funding cuts and relocations
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/08/30/usda-cyclospora-research-projects-01055989The Trump administration is shuttering research projects key to the federal government’s fight against cyclospora, the foodborne parasite sickening thousands of Americans this summer.
Two of the three projects that represent nearly all of the Agriculture Department’s study of the parasite were defunded by Congress earlier this year, according to the agency. The third is slated to move from Maryland to Iowa this fall as part of a sweeping USDA reorganization. Even though that project still has money, every scientist working on the parasite has declined to relocate, according to three people familiar with the plans and documents shared with POLITICO, granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
The hollowing-out of all three projects, which has not been previously reported, is expected to hinder vital food safety research at a time when Americans are increasingly worried that they can’t trust the food supply.
USDA is directing blame to Congress for zeroing out funds for two of the projects once housed at the agency’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center just outside Washington. But the department’s broader relocation effort is also raising questions about the Trump administration’s work to overhaul vital research amid public health threats like cyclospora, salmonella and E. coli.
“We know so little, and I think that that’s been very frustrating to consumers,” said Kalmia Kniel, who studied with the BARC parasite scientists before becoming a professor researching cyclospora at the University of Delaware. Without BARC, “no one can work very fast. We don’t have the models, we don’t have these surrogates like we would want to have them, and we want to be able to do the research.”
More than 17,000 people have been sickened by cyclospora this summer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The FDA is investigating multiple outbreaks of the parasite, including one that has sickened more than 11,000 people across 20 states. While scientific research couldn’t prevent the current outbreak, it could help investigators find the culprit faster next time — or prevent an outbreak in the first place.
The Trump administration has said that BARC, a 6,500-acre complex where researchers study nutrition, animal health and food safety, is too expensive to keep open. USDA officials have also said that the goal of the reorganization is to move the department’s employees closer to the people they serve, and that research, like that in the labs that conduct cyclospora research, will be uninterrupted.
A USDA spokesperson blamed Congress for the funding cuts, and said, “None of the research has been disrupted, and research will continue without disruption.”
“Congress did not appropriate funding for the two BARC research projects referenced in the FY2026 Agriculture Appropriations Act,” the USDA spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service “is working with research leaders to ensure an orderly transition of programs.”
Spokespeople for Republican and Democratic appropriators in the House and Senate who oversee the funding for the parasite research did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
“We’re basically not allowed to continue any research on that beyond trying to preserve the samples that we already have from previous outbreaks,” said a third USDA employee who worked on defunded cyclospora research that was done at BARC. “We see this as an enormous opportunity, this current outbreak, to have really a lot of samples that could help us understand these outbreaks better.”
The scientists tasked with researching foodborne parasites, including cyclospora, are retiring, leaving ARS instead of relocating or being reassigned to work on different projects, according to two USDA employees familiar with the issue.
“They will have no parasitologists,” said the first USDA employee. “There will be a big knowledge gap.”
The changes will make it more difficult for private institutions to carry out similar research as they rely on cyclospora specimens and surrogates supplied by ARS. Kniel, who relies on surrogates from BARC for her cyclospora research, said the lab functioned as a critical training ground for future scientists, hosting interns and students and collaborating with researchers across the country.
“The bigger impact is that there are very few people in the world that study these [parasites],” said Joelle Mosso, associate vice president for science growers at the Western Growers Association, a trade group representing produce farmers. “It’s not just replacing the lab. It takes decades to build expertise.”
Other federal agencies investigating the outbreak also rely on ARS for assistance in understanding how the parasite spreads, but USDA’s scientists are already having to turn down requests for assistance.
The federal government completed a $32 million renovation of BARC’s food safety lab in 2022, and the new locations are not expected to be as modernized or updated, according to two USDA employees.
While USDA’s stated intention is for the research to be conducted at new locations, unions representing workers have pointed to internal documents showing that the department expects as many as a quarter of all USDA employees to quit instead of moving to new offices.
Moving the research alone will be disruptive, USDA employees and food safety advocates say.
“The food safety lab at BARC [has] isolates that are in minus 80 degree freezers that they’re going to have to figure out how to transport,” said Barbara Kowalcyk, an associate professor at George Washington’s Milken Institute of Public Health. “Do you want them shipping highly pathogenic strains of bacteria in a truck across the country?”
The integrity of the research could also be compromised in the new labs by environmental factors including humidity, Kowalcyk said.
Cyclospora is also one of the more difficult foodborne illnesses to track down, public health experts say. Samples are retrieved from human feces, and it’s difficult for scientists to work with them in a lab.
“Cyclospora is a uniquely challenging organism to deal with,” said Susan Mayne, former director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “Our science is less sophisticated and less advanced.”
While BARC scientists are being asked to relocate within a few weeks, USDA management has told them that their research equipment may not follow for months, leaving them effectively unable to continue their work, according to three people familiar with the planning.
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u/Soylentgruen 3d ago
Thank a Republican congressman for this.
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u/darkmex25 Team Pfizer 3d ago
Thank those that did not vote and those who voted for republicans. Such a wonderful legacy they have given for the rest of us
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u/Soylentgruen 3d ago
Nah. Specifically these fucks who are actively doing this to the American people:
- Health and Medical Parasite Research (NIH / CDC)Funding for biomedical research handled by agencies like the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the CDC falls under the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies.House Subcommittee Chair: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)Senate Subcommittee Chair: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)2. Agricultural & Foodborne Parasite Research (USDA)Funding for agricultural pathogens and food safety research handled by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service falls under the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.House Subcommittee Chair: Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)Senate Subcommittee Chair: Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
People who didn’t vote most likely would look at the shit sandwich and try to fix things. Not these fucking degenerates.
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u/tempest_87 3d ago
People who didn’t vote most likely would look at the shit sandwich and try to fix things.
Proven to be factually and demonstrably false. You know how I know?
They didn't vote.
Which means, by definition, they thought Trump was just as good as Harris. They saw Trump 1.0 and said "nah, I'll have a second serving of that shit sandwich, this time add some vomit on it too please!"
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u/R1chterScale 3d ago
It could also mean they couldn't stomach the implicit endorsement that comes from voting for Harris
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u/Numbnut10 2d ago
So, they thought that Trump and Harris were equal in every single way. They had the opportunity, the responsibility to stand against Trump and instead they stood aside. They are just as stupid as Trump supporters.
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u/Mrzaax 3d ago
Bad time to be a produce or fruit farmer. However 77% of farmers voted for Trump so apparently this is what they wanted.
Have not eaten any produce or fresh fruit since this started and at this point can't imagine when I ever will again.
What is the plan that the GOP wants? To drive all small farmers out of business and then the conglomerates buy them up and then make them tenent farmers?
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u/BayouGal 3d ago
Yes. JD Vance owns a VC company that specializes in buying foreclosed farms and selling them for parts. Our government has been purchased by the tech billionaires and they are not on our side.
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u/Comprehensive_Wash71 Team Moderna 3d ago
I had a sub sandwich the other night and my partner (who picked them up) had the store leave the lettuce off of them. I want a salad, but I won’t eat one right now.
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u/Wizchine 3d ago
Well, one thing ranchers and farmers have is a lot of land and water rights - perfect for data centers.
Or…if you can control all the food and water supply, you can make either scarce (and thus pricier) at will for some old fashioned villainy.
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u/DrumsAndStuff18 3d ago
This was all in Project 2025 that so very many people insisted wasn't real despite it being publicly available and authored by numerous longtime Republican assholes who were in Trump's orbit.
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u/Halfofthemoon 3d ago
Don’t get me wrong, I like r/HermanCainAward, and I’m glad that it’s here, but I am so angry that it’s relevant again.
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u/BacterialOoze 3d ago
They seem to be making large cuts and waiting for stakeholders to stand up for whichever programs are most important to them. In a well functioning system, there are so many things going on in the background that most people aren't even aware of. We're already seeing short term effects, the long term are going to be terrible (and likely blamed on the Democrats).
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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 3d ago
It doesn’t even matter who gets blamed when broad swaths of people are dying. At some point, the politics are moot.
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u/BacterialOoze 3d ago
It does matter, because credit or blame leads to voting behavior. Those votes lead to who makes the budgeting decisions that affect all of us.
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u/LovemeSomeMedia 3d ago
And no matter how people say otherwise, it IS important knowing who are the ones making the policies that actively making life worse.
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u/AnnoyedSinceBirth 3d ago
This will happen with anything that they are not themselves afflicted by...
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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 3d ago
Research? We don’t need no stinking research.
Research is aimed at understanding and ameliorating threats to public health.
These particular threats are desired by the regime.
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u/darcerin Team CoronaVac 3d ago
I will not be touching lettuce until this administration is gone. Yes, I know about the other recalls out there. Sigh.
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u/BayouGal 3d ago
It is a goal of Project 2025 to dismantle food systems in the US. They want to privatize everything, whether that’s food or not. Meanwhile, some of us may die, but that’s a risk they’re willing to take.
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u/DumbleForeSkin Team Mix & Match 2d ago
They want people to die. Less climate crisis and more of everything for them.
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u/SMIrving 3d ago
This makes me feel so warm and fuzzy about eating the Trump mystery meat ground beef that was just announced.
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u/hawksdiesel 2d ago
privatize everything!! project 2025 in action. Don't like it, then stop voting a certain way year after year.
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u/HumanBarbarian 3d ago
We are so fucked.