This month I’d like to write about two related issues: government information and threats to children.
First is the purging of data on federal websites. Beginning in January of 2025, according to NPR, “several webpages from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with references to LGBTQ+ health were no longer available. A page from the HHS Office for Civil Rights outlining the rights of LGBTQ+ people in health care settings was also gone … The website of the National Institutes of Health’s Office for Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office disappeared. (Most of these pages could still be viewed through the Internet Archive.)”
So I went to the Health and Human Services website about vaccination. There was a link to a video about the pros and cons of vaccines. First the video went down. Then the link was gone. Today? Best check.
This is disturbing for several reasons. Government performs many functions. Gathering ongoing reports about everything from census numbers to traffic fatalities is one of the most vital. The numbers help us sort out the truth from rumor and fantasy. They let us know which programs and initiatives work and which don’t.
U.S. data has tended to be non-partisan and well maintained. Many agencies have been tracking the numbers, like them or not, across many administrations. They in turn inform articles, books, documentaries and policy. They direct further research. They grow data into knowledge, our public birthright, the numeric memory of our nation.
The digital book burning is driven by the current administration’s executive orders on various topics (“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” to name two). But many other kinds of data — CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, a tool that assesses community resilience in the event of natural disaster, for instance — were also taken down.
It’s not just librarians who get nervous when whole swaths of research evaporate. So do firefighters and other first responders. So do insurance agents, dentists, doctors and scientists. Such data forms the information armature of disaster responses and public health campaigns. Without it, we flounder. People die.
The second issue: I often hear politicians talk about the need to “protect the children.” It follows, then, they would look long and hard at the threats. So should the rest of us.
Here are the top three causes of the death of children in the U.S.
From 1990 to 2018, the number one cause of death of children was far and away car accidents. By 1992 deaths by automobile were at about 10 per 100,000 children. But by 2020, car deaths had halved, despite the growth in the number of vehicles.
Over the same period, death by firearms jumped to first place, car accidents slipped to second.
Why the change? My take is that cars got safer. Seatbelts and airbags are now required. At the same time, gun regulations have mostly loosened across the country. Policy decisions have consequences. Extrapolating from the data, I’m going to say “Drug overdose and poisoning” is poised to hit the number three spot for the death of children.
For teens, it’s even more grim and violent. About 37% of all deaths are unintentional injuries, including firearms. The second leading cause of death among teens aged 15 to 19 is assault or homicide. The third leading cause of death among this age group is suicide, now among the leading causes of death for both 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. Here’s the link for that research: www.bit.ly/causes-of-death.
For the curious among you, or those too slow to keep up with the purge, the remaining seven causes of childhood death in the U.S. from 1999 to 2020 were malignant neoplasm, suffocation, congenital anomalies, drowning, heart disease, fire or burns and chronic respiratory disease.
Where does all the data live? You can find it at the Center for Disease Control website. Or can you?
When the truth disappears there’s suddenly a lot of room for lies. We don’t have to bother ourselves with inconvenient contradictions.
For instance, here’s one I can’t help but notice. You know what does NOT appear on anyone’s list as a cause of child mortality?
Library books.
That’s because reading isn’t the problem. It’s what you can’t read that kills you.
First is the purging of data on federal websites. Beginning in January of 2025, according to NPR, “several webpages from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with references to LGBTQ+ health were no longer available. A page from the HHS Office for Civil Rights outlining the rights of LGBTQ+ people in health care settings was also gone … The website of the National Institutes of Health’s Office for Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office disappeared. (Most of these pages could still be viewed through the Internet Archive.)”
So I went to the Health and Human Services website about vaccination. There was a link to a video about the pros and cons of vaccines. First the video went down. Then the link was gone. Today? Best check.
This is disturbing for several reasons. Government performs many functions. Gathering ongoing reports about everything from census numbers to traffic fatalities is one of the most vital. The numbers help us sort out the truth from rumor and fantasy. They let us know which programs and initiatives work and which don’t.
U.S. data has tended to be non-partisan and well maintained. Many agencies have been tracking the numbers, like them or not, across many administrations. They in turn inform articles, books, documentaries and policy. They direct further research. They grow data into knowledge, our public birthright, the numeric memory of our nation.
The digital book burning is driven by the current administration’s executive orders on various topics (“Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing” to name two). But many other kinds of data — CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, a tool that assesses community resilience in the event of natural disaster, for instance — were also taken down.
It’s not just librarians who get nervous when whole swaths of research evaporate. So do firefighters and other first responders. So do insurance agents, dentists, doctors and scientists. Such data forms the information armature of disaster responses and public health campaigns. Without it, we flounder. People die.
The second issue: I often hear politicians talk about the need to “protect the children.” It follows, then, they would look long and hard at the threats. So should the rest of us.
Here are the top three causes of the death of children in the U.S.
From 1990 to 2018, the number one cause of death of children was far and away car accidents. By 1992 deaths by automobile were at about 10 per 100,000 children. But by 2020, car deaths had halved, despite the growth in the number of vehicles.
Over the same period, death by firearms jumped to first place, car accidents slipped to second.
Why the change? My take is that cars got safer. Seatbelts and airbags are now required. At the same time, gun regulations have mostly loosened across the country. Policy decisions have consequences. Extrapolating from the data, I’m going to say “Drug overdose and poisoning” is poised to hit the number three spot for the death of children.
For teens, it’s even more grim and violent. About 37% of all deaths are unintentional injuries, including firearms. The second leading cause of death among teens aged 15 to 19 is assault or homicide. The third leading cause of death among this age group is suicide, now among the leading causes of death for both 10-14 and 15-19 age groups. Here’s the link for that research: www.bit.ly/causes-of-death.
For the curious among you, or those too slow to keep up with the purge, the remaining seven causes of childhood death in the U.S. from 1999 to 2020 were malignant neoplasm, suffocation, congenital anomalies, drowning, heart disease, fire or burns and chronic respiratory disease.
Where does all the data live? You can find it at the Center for Disease Control website. Or can you?
When the truth disappears there’s suddenly a lot of room for lies. We don’t have to bother ourselves with inconvenient contradictions.
For instance, here’s one I can’t help but notice. You know what does NOT appear on anyone’s list as a cause of child mortality?
Library books.
That’s because reading isn’t the problem. It’s what you can’t read that kills you.
[This column originally appeared in the June 18, 2025 edition of the Sopris Sun.
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