CDC Orders Its Scientists To Withdraw New Papers To Hunt Out ‘Forbidden Terms’: Reports

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered government scientists to withdraw or pause the publication of all papers set to appear in medical or scientific journals so the Trump administration can review the material for “forbidden terms” such as “gender,” “LGBT” or “pregnant person,” according to a shocking new report.

Inside Medicine, a Substack published by Dr. Jeremy Faust, obtained an email the CDC’s chief science officer sent to researchers instructing them to stop the advancement of manuscripts that are currently being revised or those that have already been accepted for publication. Researchers were told to remove any mention or reference to a list of terms.

That list includes “gender, transgender, pregnant person, pregnant people, LGBT, transsexual, non-binary, nonbinary, assigned male at birth, assigned female at birth, biologically male, biologically female,” Inside Medicine, citing the email, reported.

Reuters later confirmed the reports.

The order applies to any paper authored or co-authored by a CDC scientist. Reuters added that if any scientists are co-authors on a paper with outside researchers, they must remove their names from the manuscripts.

The CDC has already moved to comply with orders from the Trump administration. The agency removed or edited references to trans people and gender identify from its website on Friday after a deadline to do so was imposed by the Office of Personnel Management. The office recently ordered an end to all agency programs “that use taxpayer money to promote or reflect gender ideology” following an executive order signed by Trump on the day of his inauguration.

Inside Medicine noted that many scientific manuscripts could be affected by the order as terms like “gender” are often used to describe simple demographic information. Faust added that there was just one political appointee serving in the entirety of the CDC, acting Director Susan Monarez.

It’s unclear if anyone besides her would have the authority to approve the publication of any paper that is flagged as being violation of the recent order.

“How can one person vet all of this?” an unnamed official told Inside Medicine.