Exclusive: US veterans agency orders scientists not to publish in journals without clearance

[riversedge]

Source: the guardian



Move that seeks political control of doctors’ and scientists’ published research fits a pattern of censorship by the Trump administration, veterans advocates say


Aaron Glantz Sun 1 Jun 2025 16.13 EDT

Senior officials at the US Department of Veterans Affairs have ordered that VA physicians and scientists not publish in medical journals or speak with the public without first seeking clearance from political appointees of Donald Trump, the Guardian has learned.

The edict, laid down in emails on Friday by Curt Cashour, the VA’s assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, and John Bartrum, a senior adviser to VA secretary Doug Collins, came hours after the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective co-authored by two pulmonologists who work for the VA in Texas.

“We have guidance for this,” wrote Cashour, a former Republican congressional aide and campaign consultant, attaching the journal article. “These people did not follow it.”

The article warned that cancelled contracts, layoffs and a planned staff reduction of 80,000 employees in the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system jeopardizes the health of a million veterans seeking help for conditions linked to toxic exposure – ranging from Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed cancer after being exposed to smoke from piles of flaming toxic waste.

“As pulmonologists in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), we have been seeing increasing numbers of veterans with chronic bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and other respiratory conditions,” doctors Pavan Ganapathiraju and Rebecca Traylor wrote.........................



Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/01/us-veterans-affairs-agency-doctors-scientists-research

---

Link to tweet

[Grins]

1. Was it the Ministry of Truth?

Sounds like them.

[slightlv]

2. Doesn't that run afoul of the 1st Amendment?

Especially since it IS the Government censoring individual scientists?! Seems like a custom made case, to me. What am I missing?

[Rhiannon12866]

3. What?! WTF do they know about Science or Medicine??

No vaccines, no cures, no education, no progress - from the anti health administration.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. The Rise of the Commissars

From Oxford Dictionaries:

an official of the Communist Party, especially in the former Soviet Union or present-day China, responsible for political education and organization.
"films that are passed by the political commissar"
a head of a government department in the former Soviet Union before 1946.
a strict or prescriptive figure of authority.
"our academic commissars"

Merriam-Webster:
1a: a Communist party official assigned to a military unit to teach party principles and policies and to ensure party loyalty
b: one that attempts to control public opinion or its expression
2: the head of a government department in the Soviet Union until 1946

[Blues Heron]

5. Trying to stop the doctors from sounding the alarm about the health ramifications of these drastic cuts

TACO and his minions like Musk and Vought are very evil.

[EndlessWire]

6. Those that support and enforce

these illegal orders will be punished.

I can't believe this is happening to my country. All because Dickhead Donald charmed dumbass voters into believing he was going to be their Daddy. That is, if he didn't cheat. We'll never know.

I'm looking forward to June 14th. Seems like a day to tell Donald he isn't a King OR a dictator. It's a Saturday. Shouldn't he be playing golf? No, he's got to parade military hardware through our streets. He can't be bothered to meet coffins at the airport because of inconvenience, but he can cost us millions in execution of self aggrandizment .
.
What a pr*ck.

I

[70sEraVet]

7. Didn't those doctors get the memo?

"Well, we all are going to die."

[et tu]

8. rock the boat!

those who adhere to science will
lose their jobs anyway.
and those who don't- well here's
to aqua karma~