One of NIOSH’s core functions is to certify that respirators and other personal protective equipment are up to high standards that can keep workers safe from respiratory hazards, be they physical like silica dust or biological like viruses. Many knockoff respirators attempted to pass themselves off as NIOSH-approved during the COVID-19 pandemic, possibly putting thousands of people at risk when they thought they were being responsible. This function of NIOSH will no longer be performed, and we are already seeing the consequences. On April 8, the Mining Safety and Health Administration announced that it was pausing its enforcement of its silica exposure standard for coal miners due to the lack of NIOSH’s technical assistance, leaving the standard for other types of miners intact for now.
Minnesota is a mining state, a state with a metropolis in constant need of construction work, and it is also a home of high-end technical companies and health researchers. For those of us whose lines of work are in the latter two, we may feel some financial instability ahead. The University of Minnesota, where I earned my Ph.D. (and which brought me to Minnesota in the first place), is losing grants and talent. Companies like 3M, which manufacture critical lifesaving equipment based on government research and investment, is facing a more uncertain marketplace. But it is the workers who build our roads, extract valuable materials, care for us when we are sick and grow our food who are facing life-altering consequences. It is unclear how this administration’s attempted turn toward a more inward-facing economy will address these challenges.
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