House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped the Trump administration on Saturday for its ban on the use of certain phrases in official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) documents, calling it an attempt at controlling people’s words and thoughts.
“DANGER! Trump Admin is going further down a dangerous and un-American path of word and thought control. @POTUS has no respect for and has banned words,” Pelosi tweeted, including the terms “vulnerable,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
DANGER! Trump Admin is going further down a dangerous and un-American path of word and thought control. @POTUS has no respect for and has banned words including:
“vulnerable”
“diversity”
“transgender”
“evidence-based”
“science-based”#CDC7wordshttps://t.co/cUw9IVQw9t
— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) December 16, 2017
Top CDC budget officials forwarded the list of “forbidden” words and phrases to CDC policy analysts on Thursday. They are reportedly prohibited from using the terms in official documents related to the 2019 budget, which is expected to come out in February.
The Democratic leader’s comments follow Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) calling the decision “deeply disturbing and offensive.”
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Critics have called the move a politicization of scientific findings, in line with past moves by the administration to remove mentions of climate change and renewable energy initiatives from government websites.
The abridged vocabulary for administrators could affect the CDC’s recommendations regarding populations such as transgender people, who are statistically at a higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases.
Pelosi, a vocal LGBT advocate, has previously lashed out against the administration’s efforts to prevent transgender individuals from serving in the U.S. military.
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