Consumer Safety Commission to Halt Injury Data Collection Following CDC Staff Cuts

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will stop collecting a broad range of injury data due to staff reductions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an agency email and a source familiar with the situation. The decision affects the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which has gathered data from 100 hospital emergency departments nationwide for 47 years.

The NEISS data has played a crucial role in informing product recalls, shaping safety standards, and supporting public policy aimed at reducing injuries and fatalities, particularly among Americans under the age of 45 — where injury remains the leading cause of death.

This development is a result of President Donald Trump’s elimination of 10,000 jobs at the Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. An additional 10,000 personnel have reportedly left the agency voluntarily, further impacting public health research efforts, including bird flu responses and the drug review system.

Starting Friday, the CPSC will cease collecting data on injuries related to motor vehicle crashes, falls, alcohol, adverse drug effects, aircraft incidents, work-related injuries, and other similar events through the NEISS. This change will result in a data reduction of between 20% and 65%, according to the source.

Initially, the NEISS focused solely on injuries tied to specific consumer products. In 2000, an agreement between the CDC and CPSC launched the All Injury Program (AIP), which broadened the scope of injury data collection. However, an email dated April 11 to hospitals and data contractors confirmed that the AIP will be abruptly discontinued due to staffing cuts at the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

The email noted, “Unfortunately, due to the recent reductions-in-force and budget cuts across CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the AIP-supported portion of the NEISS is coming to an end very quickly,” adding that the CPSC lacks the resources for a structured wind-down of the program.

While the CPSC spokesperson confirmed that the agency will continue collecting product-related injury data and has not received a formal directive from the CDC to stop the AIP, no answers were provided about how staffing cuts might impact data collection moving forward.

Other agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, collect some overlapping data, but NEISS-AIP data is considered more comprehensive due to its hospital-level insights.