CDC websites, datasets taken down as agency complies with Trump executive order
Several US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites and datasets related to HIV, LGBTQ people, youth health behaviors and more have been removed after the agency was directed to comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Trump's order, 'Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,' requires the federal government to recognize two sexes: male and female. A January 29 memo from the US Office of Personnel Management directs agency heads to remove 'all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) that inculcate or promote gender ideology' by 5 p.m. Friday.
CNN has reached out to the White House about the memo.
A senior health official told CNN that staff were told that consequences for noncompliance could be severe. Removal of the language will take time, the official added, so the sites and information were taken down in order to comply.
'In the process, large swaths of data and science will be unavailable for an undetermined period,' the senior health official said. 'Regardless of your comfort with the idea of trans people, you should be terrified that the government is purging truth and science to fit an ideology, because what's next?'
As of Friday afternoon, several CDC pages related to HIV are down, including the CDC's HIV index page, testing page, datasets, national surveillance reports and causes pages.
Many of the CDC's sites related to LGBTQ youth were also removed, including pages that mentioned LGBT children's risk of suicide, those focused on creating safe schools for LGBTQ youth and a page focused on health disparities among LGBTQ youth.
The site for the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System — a long-running survey that tracks health behaviors among high school students in the United States — says 'The page you're looking for was not found.'
A page about food safety during pregnancy called 'Safer Food Choices for Pregnant People' was also removed.
Also down is AtlasPlus, an interactive tool that lets users analyze CDC data on HIV, STDs, TB and viral hepatitis, and the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index, data that helps researchers and public policy leaders identify communities that are vulnerable to the effects of disasters and public health emergencies.
Asked about the changes, a CDC spokesperson referred questions to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Last week, the Trump administration directed federal health agencies, including the CDC, to pause external communications through February 1. HHS has previously told CNN that there will be exceptions for 'mission critical' announcements made on a case-by-case basis.
HHS did not respond to requests for information about the CDC sites.
Leaders of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association said Friday that access to CDC information is crucial for health-care providers. Timely, accurate information is 'essential for controlling infections and safeguarding health,' they said in a statement.
'The removal of HIV- and LGBTQ-related resources from the websites of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies is deeply concerning and creates a dangerous gap in scientific information and data to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks,' Dr. Tina Tan, president of the IDSA, and Dr. Colleen Kelley, chair of the HIVMA, said in a statement.
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Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Friday from the CNN Health team. As pages started to come down, scholars and activists on social media have encouraged others to archive CDC data.
In a letter to Acting HHS Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink and Acting CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez, the Association of Health Care Journalists requested that the sites be restored immediately. The missing datasets are 'crucial' for informing the public about issues such as 'smoking, vaping, drinking, eating, exercise, and sexual behavior,' the association's leaders wrote in the letter.
CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.
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