“Woman,” “disabled” and “elderly” are reportedly on a list of terms that U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists have been told not to use in external communications. However, the White House says it isn’t so.
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According to a Thursday report from Reuters, “two FDA scientists with direct knowledge of the matter who requested anonymity for fear of professional repercussions,” a file with the name “Prohibited words” has been circulating in official work chats this week. These scientists said that neither they nor their manager know who issued the directive, which reportedly includes more than two dozen words.
“I don’t understand why we can’t use a word like ‘woman,’” one FDA source told the outlet. “The words on the list would make it almost impossible to do our jobs.”
Reuters said it reviewed the list and that it also included the following words: underrepresented, underserved, understudied, sex, identity, diverse, women, promote, definition, continuum, ideology, self-assessed and special populations. Its FDA sources said colleagues told them the list originated with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which has more than 2,000 workers and is tasked with ensuring the safety and efficacy of medical devices.
While the two FDA sources said that excluding the words from external communications would negatively impact their work, a White House spokesman told Reuters that most of the words on the FDA list didn’t need to be removed from those communications. That spokesman suggested that the list was the result of “FDA officials misinterpreting [President Donald] Trump’s executive order against ‘gender ideology.’”
Trump issued that order on the first day of his second term. It called for his administration to use what he called “clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” On that day, Trump also issued another order aimed at reversed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies put in place by former President Joe Biden.
“The spokesman said the FDA does need to prohibit use of the words gender, inclusion, identity, diversity, inter, intersex, equity, equitable, transgender and trans to comply,” with the “gender ideology” order, said Reuters. Additionally, the outlet said that an FDA spokesman said the agency has “no official list of banned words.”
Last week, the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – known for his controversial medical views, including vaccine skepticism – as the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, he oversees the FDA.
The FDA is not the only agency that reportedly has been asked to change the language it uses recently. Reuters said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took down publicly available health information, such as HIV datasets due to a directive to “remove words such as gender, transgender, LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and nonbinary from its communications to ensure that they comply with executive orders that solely recognize male and female sex and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”
Inside the government, employees have also been let go as a result of the Trump administration’s new policies – particularly the efforts of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Per the White House spokesman cited by Reuters, more than 1,000 workers out of around 20,000 at the FDA have been dismissed across divisions. These firings come as concerns about avian flu and measles outbreaks increase.
Outside of the governemnt, Trump’s executive orders have also had an impact, including Google’s decision to roll back DEI initiatives.
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