CDC denies word ban

On December 15, the Washington Post reported that the White House sent the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) a list of seven words [vulnerable, entitlement, diversity, transgender, fetus, evidence-based and science-based.] it was forbidden from including in official documents for next year’s budget.

CDC director Dr Brenda Fitzgerald tweeted denial of any word ban

The CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have denied that the list of words constituted a ban.

The confusion arose from “a staff-level discussion at a routine meeting about how to present CDC’s budget.

The list was presented during a 90-minute briefing on December 14 as part of a suggestion to use words and phrases that “might be more likely to win support for the CDC’s budget in the current Congress.”

The idea is that favorable word choice could help ease the budget’s passage through Congress.