Donald Trump 'bans health agency from using science-based words including transgender and foetus'

The Trump administration has banned a US health agency from using “science-based words" including transgender and foetus in any official documents being prepared for the budget.

Centres for Disease Control officials informed policy analysts of the list of the “forbidden” words and phrases at the CDC on Thursday in a 90 minute meeting, the Washington Post reported.

Words included on the list are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender” and “foetus.”

The administration has reportedly prohibited analysts from using the phrases on official documents in the 2019 budget which is expected to be released in February.

Instead of using the words “science-based” or “evidence-based,” analysts were informed that they could use the phrase “CDC bases its recommendations on science in consideration with community standards and wishes”.

An analyst attending the meeting at the CDC in Atlanta told the Post that that it is likely that other branches of President Trump’s health department are adhering to the same list of banned words.

He said that the ban was met with shock by other analysts.

“It was very much, ‘Are you serious? Are you kidding?’” he said.

“In my experience, we’ve never had any pushback from an ideological standpoint,” he continued.

The Post reported that news of the ban on certain words has not been broadcast to the broader group of scientists at the CDC, but the analyst anticipated that it would provoke a backlash.

“Our subject matter experts will not lay down quietly — this hasn’t trickled down to them yet.”

Mr Trump has previously been criticised for rejecting evidence-based science, particularly in regards to its stance on climate change.

In June 2017, he announced plans to pull the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.