The Trump administration is set to cancel tens of millions of dollars in grants to scientists studying environmental hazards faced by children in rural America, among other health issues, according to internal emails written by senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency.

The planned cancellation of the research grants, which were awarded to scientists outside the agency, comes as President Donald Trump continues to dismantle some core EPA functions.

The grants are designed to address issues including improving the health of children in rural America who have been exposed to pesticides from agriculture and other pollution; reducing exposure to wildfire smoke; and preventing “forever chemicals” from contaminating the food supply.

An email sent April 15 by Dan Coogan, a deputy assistant administrator at the EPA, which was seen by The New York Times, said agency leadership was directing staff to cancel all pending and active grants across a number of key programs.

In response to inquiries Monday, the EPA said the grants had not been canceled. “As with any change in Administration, the agency is reviewing its awarded grants to ensure each is an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and to understand how those programs align with Administration priorities,” said an emailed statement from the EPA’s press office. “The agency’s review is ongoing.”

Still, project officers have started to receive cancellation notices.

Many grants involve issues that affect regions of the country where voters supported Trump.

The targeted grants, which total about $40 million a year, play an outsize role in advancing research on environmental health, experts said.

The planned cancellations come on the heels of controversy surrounding $20 billion in grants for climate and clean energy programs that had been funded by Congress but were frozen at the Trump administration’s request.

The EPA has also shut down its offices responsible for addressing disproportionately high levels of pollution in poor communities.

The current administration has pursued a platform to “Make America Healthy Again,” led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been vocal about dangers posed by pesticides and other pollution linked to agriculture.