Ex-surgeon general: I was muzzled - Bush appointee says political interference trumped medicine
Ex-surgeon general: I was muzzled - Bush appointee says political interference trumped medicine
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times
Published July 11, 2007
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's first surgeon general testified Tuesday that his speeches were censored to match administration political positions and that he was prevented from giving the public accurate scientific information on issues such as stem cell research and teen pregnancy prevention.
"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who was surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a congressional committee. "The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation -- not the doctor of a political party."
Early in the Bush administration, when the issue of federal funding for stem cell research arose, Carmona said, he felt he could play an educational role by discussing the latest scientific research. Instead, he said, he was told to "stand down" because the White House had already decided to limit stem cell studies. He said administration appointees who reviewed his speech texts deleted references to stem cells.
His testimony drew a pointed rebuke from the White House. Officials suggested that any breakdown in communicating health information to the American people was ultimately his failure.
"Dr. Carmona was given the authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the health of all Americans," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
"It's disappointing to us if he failed to use his position to the fullest extent in advocating for policies he thought were in the best interests of the nation," Fratto said.
Carmona's remarks were the latest from government scientists about what they say are administration efforts to control -- and sometimes distort -- scientific evidence to support policy decisions.
NASA scientists have complained of political pressure to tone down warnings about global warming. Dr. Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, recently dissented from the administration's position by saying its restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research were holding back progress.
In the case of the surgeon general, Carmona told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "The reality is that the nation's doctor has been marginalized and relegated to a position with no independent budget, and with supervisors who are political appointees with partisan agendas."
Carmona served his 4-year term as surgeon general and was not reappointed. In an interview, Carmona said he thought about quitting many times, but added, "You also realize that if you quit, who else is going to do this job?"
One of his major accomplishments as surgeon general was a landmark report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. Its release was delayed for political reasons, he said.
Other reports on mental health, emergency preparedness and global health issues were blocked and never saw the light of day, he said.
Carmona said he also ran afoul of politics on teen pregnancy prevention. The administration emphasizes abstinence from sex; Carmona said he believes a variety of approaches are needed, including contraception for those teens who are sexually active.
The administration "did not want to hear the science but wanted to preach abstinence, which I felt was scientifically incorrect," Carmona testified.
Carmona testified with former Surgeons General C. Everett Koop and David Satcher, who served in the Reagan and Clinton administrations, respectively. They also told the committee that they had faced political interference on issues such as sexuality or drug use.
Koop said that after he left office he had more access to the secretary of Health and Human Services than his successor, Satcher, and that embarrassed him. "Dr. Carmona was treated with even less respect than Dr. Satcher," Koop said.
"The surgeon general has to be independent if the surgeon general is going to have any credibility," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who heads the oversight committee.
However, some Republican members of the committee suggested that Carmona simply wasn't cut out for Washington's bureaucratic turf battles.
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The doctor isn't in--yet
Confirmation hearings are set Thursday for the doctor appointed to succeed Richard Carmona as surgeon general: Kentucky cardiologist James Holsinger Jr. The nomination has been criticized by gay-rights groups, which cite Holsinger's vote to expel a lesbian pastor from the United Methodist Church and his writing in 1991 that gay sex is unnatural and unhealthy.
-- Associated Press
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