Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysts have been told to omit words such as « vulnerable, » « transgender » and « evidence-based » from an upcoming budget. Critics say it amounts to censorship.
Analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reportedly been issued a mandate by the Trump administration to no longer use words and phrases including « fetus, » « transgender » and « science-based. »
This directive was delivered to senior CDC officials responsible for overseeing the health agency’s budget, according to the Washington Post, which broke the news Friday evening.
The seven words that are to be stricken from official documents being drafted for the next year’s budget, according to the Post are:
According to an unnamed CDC analyst in the Post’s write-up, the list of the prohibited words was unveiled at the agency’s headquarters in Atlanta during a Thursday meeting that lasted 90 minutes. The meeting was reportedly led by Alison Kelly, a top official with CDC’s Office of Financial Services. The Post adds that Kelly did not give a reason why the words were being banned, only that she was simply relaying the information. The Post adds:
If the report is true, it raises concerns about censorship under the Trump administration. As NPR’s Rebecca Hersher reported last month, an NPR analysis found a decline in the number of grants awarded by the National Science Foundation with the phrase « climate change » either in the title or the summary.
Hersher also reported:
The CDC has not issued a public statement or returned NPR’s requests for comment. But according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, it is not uncommon for career staff at government agencies to self-censor in order to avoid being a political target.
