Slashdot Mirror


CDC Director Says No Words Are Actually Banned At the CDC (pbs.org)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PBS: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald on Sunday addressed a report that President Donald Trump's administration had banned the CDC from using seven words or phrases in next year's budget documents. The terms are "fetus," "transgender," "vulnerable," "entitlement," "diversity," "evidence-based" and "science-based," according to a story first reported on Friday in The Washington Post. But Fitzgerald said in a series of tweets on Sunday said there are "no banned words," while emphasizing the agency's commitment to data-driven science. "CDC has a long-standing history of making public health and budget decisions that are based on the best available science and data and for the benefit of all people -- and we will continue to do so," she said.

A group of the agency's policy analysts said senior officials at the CDC informed them about the banned words on Thursday, according to the Post's report. In some cases, the analysts were reportedly given replacement phrases to use instead. But in follow-up reporting, The New York Times cited "a few" CDC officials who suggested the move was not meant as an outright ban, but rather, a technique to help secure Republican approval of the 2019 budget by eliminating certain words and phrases. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC, said the reported decree on banned words was a misrepresentation.

5 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. Re:An easy way to prove it..... by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 5, Funny
    Maybe they just need to use a leet-speak translator to get around word filters:

    "f37u5"
    "7r4n563nd3r"
    "vuln3r4bl3"
    "3n717l3m3n7"
    "d1v3r517y"
    "3v1d3nc3-b453d"
    "5c13nc3-b453d"

  2. Re:Nor did she deny that they HAD been banned by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Funny

    She said that the words are NOT banned, BUT when asked if they had been banned, she would not answer the question.

    "The banning of words has now been banned. Those responsible for the banning have now been banned."

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  3. Re:An easy way to prove it..... by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 5, Funny

    Evidence-based entitlements for diverse trans-gendered fetuses are vulnerable to science-based bans.

  4. Re:Nor did she deny that they HAD been banned by burtosis · · Score: 3, Funny

    No realli, a moose once but my sister,

  5. Re:Politics. by arth1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Don't say 'fetus!' To you it's a science word, but to a politician that's a flag of liberalism. If you utter that word they'll see you as the enemy and cut your funding. Just call it a pre-born child and they'll treat you as one of their own."

    I think we need a translation dictionary, not a list of words to avoid.
    Perhaps Google Translate could get a "Conservative" language option.