The CDC is facing a major shift in its approach to public health communications.
A recent directive has banned the use of certain terms that are seen as promoting “woke” ideologies.
As part of this directive, the agency has been instructed to retract any documents that include words like “transgender,” “LGBT,” “pregnant people,” or “immigrant.”
Dr. Sam Posner, the CDC’s associate director for science, sent an email to staff late last week instructing them to eliminate phrases deemed to promote gender ideology.
This directive is part of an ongoing effort to root out what is seen as “gender extremism” in federal agencies, stemming from an executive order by former President Trump.
Impact on the CDC’s Website and Research
Following this order, numerous health-related pages on the CDC website have disappeared or been altered.
Information related to transgender health, in particular, has been removed, with some pages now displaying error messages.
For example, a page about LGBT health services has been archived, and users are now greeted with a notice stating that it is no longer being updated.
Other pages, like those about contraception and heart disease, have also vanished, though they don’t directly deal with gender issues.
This sudden change is part of a broader pause on communications across federal health agencies.
On January 21, the Department of Health and Human Services instructed all federal health agencies to pause public communications, pending a review by political appointees.
This review is expected to continue, and some content, such as transgender health information, may be permanently scrapped.
Censorship Concerns and Criticism
The removal of these terms has sparked outrage among many former and current public health officials.
Critics argue that the policy is an attempt to censor important information.
Larry Gostin, a global health law expert, expressed his concern that this move is akin to an Orwellian attack on free speech.
Dr. Richard Besser, former acting CDC director, called it “absolutely unbelievable” that information about transgender health is being erased from government resources.
Federal employees are also worried about the long-term effects of these measures.
Many believe that removing critical health information could harm people who rely on government advice for healthcare decisions.
At the National Institutes of Health, there has been internal resistance to these changes, with employees expressing concern that the policies will lead to harm, particularly for transgender and intersex individuals.
Broader Impact on Federal Agencies
The changes at the CDC are part of a larger pattern within the federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management recently instructed federal agencies to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
Meanwhile, the USDA has been ordered to remove climate change content from its public websites, further expanding the scope of these content restrictions.
Employees across multiple agencies are grappling with how these policies contradict years of scientific research and public health efforts.
While some of the affected CDC content might eventually be re-released with revised language, others believe that critical topics, particularly those related to transgender health, could be erased entirely.
As this situation unfolds, many are left questioning how these actions will impact the credibility and reliability of federal health information moving forward.
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