[Intl_DxMedPhys] Government, science, censorship

[Bob Pizzutiello]

When politics gets the science wrong, how do responsible scientists respond? I am raising a scientific issue of concern.

One of the deeply troubling edicts of the current administration now demands retraction of manuscripts in preparation/publication that use any of the key words listed in the article below. In recent years every hospital I know has been asking medical physicists to advise on updating pregnancy policies to address the human and scientific reality that the simple terms “male” and “female” do not represent all patients. Science is what we do. 

20+ years ago our profession struggled when a California Law pertaining to CT scanners included numerous errors that put compliance in conflict with scientific fact. 

Perhaps some of our California colleagues would care to refresh our collective memories about the complex challenges they encountered as they fought for years to change the legislation to be less at opposition with science. 

Of course, today’s situation is not based on and legislation.

Finally, I offer my sincere concern to our colleagues at VA, FDA and other government agencies who must now face the demand to remove those terms while remaining true to the scientific reality that is not as simple as binary. They may not choose to be identified, but I plan to raise this concern with AAPM’s Government Affairs Committee.

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/faustfiles/114043?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2025-02-08&mh=cd63cfb826c6259b492e21ab9143b4a3&zdee=gAAAAABm4uQotrW8bAtCQc20dqv7I4FIVoNn-AjQzXpfT7y1hX3RdbBj0pWPFSXMZr70I1N9IwItsKCOPEDJuK5lBKxdutuJ8LQbsQZpQ3JAJoWoNI617-I*3D&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Weekly*20Review*202025-02-08&utm_term=NL_DHE_Weekly_Active__;JSUl!!KGKeukY!0NuOcE-dyb2YN7RQZzdccCV8lgewnOvd9uF7eTzQRMajI4lBjJGw2yYT40EigeACFfPX2JcFKZ-m5jsUdRyYjrn-GSMmcORecAKmwfhO$ 

We should probably focus any comments on the scientific and ethical challenge at hand resulting from this anti-scientific censorship, and resist blowing up this list with political rhetoric, no matter how strongly held. 

Bob
>From Bob Pizzutiello, via iPad
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