Unsafe Words in Science, Health, and Policy

For many people who toil in pursuit of insights from scientific research, these are stressful times. Mass firings have decimated U.S. science agencies, according to reporting in Science. The chaos has shattered the careers of many scientists and has been especially harsh for vulnerable early career scientists. As this is happening, a climate of fear has taken hold and people face difficult decisions about self-censorship because it has become clear that uttering unsafe words in science, health, and health policy can be disastrous for individuals and institutions.

The List

Late last week, the New York Times published a list of approximately 200 words or phrases that agencies are deleting from government documents. This work is proceeding quickly, with 250 pages on federal websites that have already been deleted or altered. We note with particular interest that we apparently are not supposed to be talking about “bias” anymore.

Not So Independent Scientific and Research Organizations

It turns out that this presents quite a problem for supposedly independent research organizations. This would include universities and institutions like the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Stat News reported recently that staff at the Academies has been busy “scrubbing pending reports of words such as ‘health equity,’ ‘marginalized populations,’ and ‘restorative justice.’” More vague terms replaced those words “in an effort to appease the Trump administration,” said the authors of a letter protesting the situation. STAT obtained a copy of this letter which went to leadership of the Academies.

The authors, scientists who are members of the Academies, said they are “deeply disturbed” about all of this. In their letter, they expressed displeasure about editing publications ”to suit political or ideological concerns.” A spokesperson (can we say that?) for the Academies denied they are “taking unilateral action to remove specific words or concepts.”

A Toll on NIH

At NIH, according to the Washington Post, this sort of chaos is taking a toll on NIH through fear and uncertainty about the future of scientific research there. The Post says the damage is greater than the public had previously known. Transparency about that campaign to purge science of unsafe words is apparently not a priority.

In rallies on Friday, thousands turned out to protest the cuts and efforts to silence scientific research. At the same time, in response to fears about their funding, many nonprofits and individuals are self-censoring.

One thing is clear. This is a mess that seems likely to set back American leadership in research.

Click here for list of unsafe words from the Times and here for reporting from the Post on chaos at the NIH. For further perspective, click here.

Silence, painting by Mikhail Nesterov / WikiArt

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March 9, 2025