FDA CHIEF ABRUPTLY RESIGNS-- BUSHCO'S CONSUMER HEALTH POLICIES COMPLETELY GONE TO THE DOGS (PUN INTENDED)
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When Bush appointed that religionist-nut veterinarian, Norris Anderson, to be Director for the Office of Women's Health, albeit briefly (approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes) it infuriated women's groups on all sides of the political spectrum. But it made me wonder if the only people with medical bona fides BushCo could round up for their anti-Science jihad were veterinarians. And then yesterday comes the big news about another doggie doctor being forced to resign by the Bush Regime he was serving-- this one, Lester Crawford, who was only just confirmed by the Senate, in a very bitter and embarrassing process, 2 months ago, was head of the Food and Drug Administration. Crawford had been serving as the acting commissioner for over a year during the lengthy and acrimonious confirmation process. He eventually won the Senate's grudging approval in July only after promising that the agency would make a final decision on legalizing Plan B (a morning-after contraceptive that GOP mullahs oppose) for over-the-counter sales by Sept. 1. He had been lying, however, prompting the FDA's top woman's health official to resign... angrily.
People concerned about consumer well-being-- the reason the FDA was founded in 1906-- were overjoyed to hear Crawford was forced out. Two leading Senators, one moderate Democrat and one very conservative Republican, were publicly relieved-- if not jubilant-- to see Crawford go. "The American consumer should shed no tears at Mr. Crawford's resignation," said Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND). "The fact is, he took the side of the pharmaceutical industry and against consumers at virtually every opportunity." Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), who has spent 18 months investigating the agency, pointed out that "In recent years, the FDA has demonstrated a too-cozy relationship with the pharmaceutical industry and an attitude of shielding rather than disclosing information." If Grassley was willing to go that far, it is probably the prelude to a major revelation about wrong-doing that will further shake the corruption-and-scandal-ridden Bush Regime.
Labels: FDA
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 11:47 AM
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MOLLY IVINS NOTICED TOO!
AUSTIN, Texas -- So here are all the liberals going into a giant snit just because George W. Bush appointed a veterinarian to head the women's health section of the Food and Drug Administration. For Pete's sake, you whiners, the only reason he chose the vet is because Michael Brown wasn't available.
If you recall, Ol' Heckuva-Job Brownie had to go home, walk his dog and then hug his wife after exhausting himself in his triumphal handling of Hurricane Katrina. Otherwise, he'd have been Bush's first pick.
Now, even the veterinarian doesn't get the job -- just because those professional feminists raised such a stink. What's wrong with a vet? They know a lot about birth and udders and stuff. If the mother is having trouble giving birth, you grab the baby by the legs and pull it out -- it's not brain surgery. Then you worm 'em, you tag 'em and you spray for fleas. Why the fuss?
The only reason Bush even needed a new head of the Office of Women's Health is because the last one, Susan Wood, quit. She was upset because the political hacks who run the agency refused to allow over-the-counter sale of the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B.
True, that decision was made against the advice of the FDA's own scientific advisory panel and will unquestionably result in more abortions and almost certainly damage to some women's health. But why would anyone expect the Bush hacks to pay attention to scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended by the professional staff? Just like the folks at FEMA, they got their jobs because they know how to set up photo-ops for Bush.
There's a doctoral dissertation to be written about Bush appointees named during the administration's frequent fits of Petulant Pique. These PP appointments are made in the immortal childhood spirit of "nanny-nanny boo-boo, I'll show you." Susan Wood resigns in protest over the politicization of women's health care? Ha! We'll show her -- we'll put a vet in charge, instead.
The PP appointments are less for reasons of ideology or even rewarding the politically faithful than just in the old nyeh-nyeh spirit. You could, for example, put any number of people at the Department of Labor who are wholly unsympathetic to the labor movement -- Bush has installed shoals of them already. But there is a certain arch, flippant malice to making Edwin Foulke assistant secretary in charge of the health and safety of workers.
Republican appointees who oppose the agencies to which they are assigned are a dime a dozen, but Foulke is a partner from the most notorious union-busting law firm in the country. What he does for a living is destroy the only organizations that care about workers' health and safety.
Here's another PP pick: put a timber industry lobbyist in as head of the Forest Service. How about a mining industry lobbyist who believes public lands are unconstitutional in charge of the public lands? Nice shot. A utility lobbyist who represented the worst air polluters in the country as head of the clean air division at the EPA? A laff riot. As head of the Superfund, a woman whose last job was teaching corporate polluters how to evade Superfund regulations? Cute, cute, cute. A Monsanto lobbyist as No. 2 at the EPA. A lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute at the Council on Environmental Quality. And so on. And so forth.
The Federal Trade Commission was finally embarrassed enough by demands from Democratic governors to start an investigation into recent price gouging by oil companies. But the investigation will be headed by a former lawyer for ChevronTexaco. Is this fun or what? Nanny-nanny boo-boo.
The terrible lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that public policy is not a political gotcha game. The public interest is not well-served by appointing incompetents or anti-competents to positions of responsibility. Public policy is about our lives.
Here's another example: The Violence Against Women Act expires on Oct. 1 and must be reauthorized before then. It doesn't look good. For 10 years, this law has helped improve criminal justice and community-based responses to sexual violence and sexual assault. As result, there has been an overall decline in the incidence of women battered or killed by their partners.
But as the July-August issue of Mother Jones painfully demonstrates, domestic violence remains a hideous problem. It is both a public health and a human rights issue. Homicide is the 10th leading cause of death for women under 65. According to the Family Violence Prevention Fund, about 30 percent of American women report being physically abused by husbands or boyfriends. Every year, more than 300,000 U.S. women are raped and more than 4 million assaulted. Funding for family violence prevention was cut by $48 million this year.
I guess it would be pretty funny, on some level, to put a vet in charge of this issue, too. But let's not. This is about people's lives. I've already seen too many people staring numbly at walls, still in shock. Let's start by getting Congress to at least reauthorize the act. The arsenal of democracy starts with the telephone, the fax machine, the e-mail, paper and pen. Just sign it, "Your constituent."
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