'Just nonsensical': Puzzled doctors warn Trump's woke words blacklist is risking lives

A group of doctors and medical school professors sounded the alarm Tuesday after revelations of a reported list of "woke" words that will cause the Trump administration's National Science Foundation to flag research grants for further review.

The list applies to a huge number of words and phrases, many of which are associated with activist social justice speak but which also have important meanings in science, mathematics, and medicine — words like "female," "women," "systemic," "trauma," "bias," "barrier," "victim," and "history."

It's part of Trump's broader attack on "diversity, equity, and inclusion" programs in government, which he abolished with an executive order so broad that it led to nonwhite exhibits being removed from federal agency museums and even prevented agencies from recognizing Martin Luther King Day.

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"Censoring research on how to deliver treatments to those most in need isn’t just nonsensical — it puts lives at risk and undermines America’s leadership in medical innovation," doctrs Jehan Alladina, C. Corey Hardin, and Alexander Rabin wrote in the New York Times.

"Progress cannot occur if scientists are barred from asking certain questions. This is not how science works."

As an example, they noted how it was vitally important in asthma treatment research to investigate why asthma is so much more common in majority Black neighborhoods than anywhere else. "Black Americans are three times as likely to die from asthma as white patients, with the most deaths seen among Black women. These patients are significantly underrepresented in asthma clinical trials, making it unclear if current treatments are the most effective options for them."

Blacklisting of words related to climate change are also impeding critical research, they said: "Lately, cases of devastating fungal pneumonia have cropped up in our I.C.U.s as climate change has expanded the reach of fungi such as Blastomyces and Coccidioides. Without recognizing climate change’s role in fueling fungal pathogens, doctors may overlook critical diagnoses."

"The recent barrage of administrative decrees will only serve to demoralize health workers, stifle innovation, compromise clinical trials, delay the development of new treatments and harm our patients," the doctors warned, concluding, "Will the government police words and obstruct research, or will it allow doctors to work freely in the name of health?"