President Donald Trump issued an executive order to slash the number of science advisory committees by one-third, with more cuts planned through attrition. Credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images President Donald Trump’s new order to cut the number of government advisory committees by a third is drawing condemnation from former government officials, scientists and environmental advocacy groups who say the committees provide a check against politically inspired regulatory reversals. “It’s just another extension of this administration’s attack on science, an attack on transparency, and an attack on anything that can get in the way of this administration doing what it wants to do without need for experts to intervene in any way,” said Gina McCarthy, who led the Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama administration and is now director of Harvard University’s Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The order , […]