[PAA-Discuss] Ex-Officials Tell of Conflict Over Science and Politics

[Sarah Gonzales]

Ex-Officials Tell of Conflict Over Science and Politics
Gardiner Harris, Washington
July 12, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/former-surgeongeneral-attacks- 
bush/2007/07/11/1183833596972.html#
THE first surgeon-general appointed by US President George Bush has  
accused his Administration of political interference and muzzling him  
on issues such as embryonic stem cell research.

Dr Richard Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, is  
one of a growing list of present and former Administration officials  
to charge that politics often trumped science within what had  
previously been largely nonpartisan government health and scientific  
agencies.

Dr Carmona told the House Committee on Oversight and Government  
Reform that political appointees routinely scrubbed his speeches for  
politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on  
public health matters.

The Administration, he 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 second-hand smoke,  
he said.

Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to  
cigarette smoke can cause immediate harm.

Dr Carmona said he was ordered to mention President Bush three times  
on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make  
speeches to support Republican candidates.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees'  
ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored,  
marginalised or simply buried," he said. "The problem with this  
approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is  
nothing worse than ignoring science, or marginalising the voice of  
science for reasons driven by changing political winds."

A former professor of surgery and public health at the University of  
Arizona, Dr Carmona said he was told not to speak out during the  
national debate over federal funding for embryonic stem cell  
research, which President Bush opposes.

"Much of the discussion was being driven by theology, ideology, (and)  
preconceived beliefs that were scientifically incorrect," he said. "I  
thought, this is a perfect example of the surgeon-general being able  
to step forward, educate the American public … I was told the  
decision had already been made — 'stand down, don't talk about it.'  
That information was removed from my speeches."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto rejected claims of political  
interference, saying Dr Carmona had all the support he needed to  
carry out his mission. "As surgeon-general, Dr Carmona was given the  
authority and had the obligation to be the leading voice for the  
health of all Americans," Mr 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."

Dr Carmona said that when the Administration touted funding for  
abstinence-only education, he was prevented from discussing research  
on the effectiveness of teaching about condoms as well as abstinence.  
Officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics  
because, he said, of that charitable organisation's longtime ties to  
a "prominent family" that he refused to name.

"I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to  
help those people?' " Dr Carmona said.

When asked after the hearing if that "prominent family" was the  
Kennedys, Dr Carmona responded: "You said it. I didn't."
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