7 words now taboo at CDC

Trump administration officials are forbidding officials at the nation’s top public-health agency from using a list of seven words or phrases, including “fetus” and “transgender,” in any official documents being prepared for next year’s budget.

Policy analysts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The five other forbidden words are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “evidencebased” and “science-based.”

In some instances, the analysts were given alternative phrases. Instead of “science-based” or “evidence-based,” the suggested phrase is “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes,” the person said. In some cases, no replacement words were immediately offered.

At the CDC, several offices have responsibilities for work that uses some of these words. The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention is working on ways to prevent HIV among transgender people and reduce health disparities. The CDC’s work on birth defects caused by the Zika virus, for example, includes research on the developing fetus.

The ban is related to the budget and supporting materials that are to be given to CDC’s partners and to Congress, the analyst said. The president’s budget for 2019 is expected to be released in early February.