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A recent report by The Washington Post triggered panic throughout the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which indicated that the Trump Administration was trying to force the agency to ban seven words. However, the current CDC director said that no words were banned and that agency is still sticking with a science-based. According to sources, it seems the debacle was actually due to concerns over budgetary approval.
According to the report, the CDC was instructed to strike a list of words throughout the organization, which include “evidence-based” and “diversity.” CDC Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald has since sent out an email to all staff members assuring them that there is no word ban being implemented in the agency, STAT reports.
She also followed that up with a Tweet on her official account to assure people that the CDC is still an agency that is based on science. All the words on the list are apparently still being used.
You may be understandably concerned about recent media reports alleging that CDC is banned from using certain words in budget documents. I want to assure you that CDC remains committed to our public health mission as a science- and evidence-based institution.
— Dr Brenda Fitzgerald (@CDCDirector) December 17, 2017
“You may be understandably concerned about recent media reports alleging that CDC is banned from using certain words in budget documents. I want to assure you that CDC remains committed to our public health mission as a science- and evidence-based institution,” the Tweet reads.
A Health and Human Services official who asked to remain anonymous also revealed that the list actually pertains to the budget proposal by the CDC. It would seem that an analyst advised the agency to avoid using any of the words on the list in order to increase the likelihood of the budget being approved by the current Congress.
“The meeting did take place, there was guidance provided — suggestions if you will,” the official explained. “There are different ways to say things without necessarily compromising or changing the true essence of what’s being said.
“This was all about providing guidance to those who would be writing those budget proposals. And it was very much ‘you may wish to do this or say this’. But there was nothing in the way of ‘forbidden words.’”
