In a classic inside-the-beltway politics and media dance, the Washington Post and the New York Times both ran front page stories that (I'm shocked!) - US Surgeon Generals, the nation's chief public health officer, have been told to withhold, edit, insert and otherwise inject political, ideological and theological viewpoints into their speeches and documents. The dance is that hearings for the administration's nominee to be the next Surgeon General are Thursday.
From Christopher Lee at the Post:
Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches for politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on public health matters such as stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and the emergency contraceptive Plan B...
Satcher, Carmona's predecessor, who served from 1998 to 2002, said that under President Bill Clinton he could not release a report on sexuality and public health, in part because of sensitivities triggered by the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
Clinton also forced out Joycelyn Elders as surgeon general in 1994 after her controversial remarks that public schools should consider teaching about masturbation.
Koop, who served as surgeon general under President Ronald Reagan, spoke out on AIDS, despite political pressure not to do so. He said Reagan was pressured to fire him every day -- but he did not.
Gardiner Harris at the Times adds:
The administration, Dr. Carmona said, would not allow him to speak or issue reports about stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education, or prison, mental and global health issues. Top officials delayed for years and tried to “water down” a landmark report on secondhand smoke, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke could cause immediate harm...
Dr. Carmona said drafts of surgeon general reports on global health and prison health were still being debated by the administration. The global health report was never approved, Dr. Carmona said, because he refused to sprinkle the report with glowing references to the efforts of the Bush administration.
“The correctional health care report is pointing out the inadequacies of health care within our correctional health care system,” he said. “It would force the government on a course of action to improve that.”
The testimony was enough to get the Committee chair to write to the Secretary of Health and Human Services today this letter requesting all documents related to the above (and other) claims by Carmona.
And here are the links to all of the details.
And now the American Public Health Association comes out against the nominee. Where are you APHA when the lights go off and everyone says they have a badge?
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