Politicizing public health

I find it strange that nobody seems to have picked up on this report which the NY Times rightly ran as the lead story today:

WASHINGTON, July 10 — Former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told a Congressional panel Tuesday that top Bush administration officials repeatedly tried to weaken or suppress important public health reports because of political considerations.

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 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 political candidates and to attend political briefings.

And administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization’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.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation’s premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedys have long been deeply involved in it.

When asked after the hearing if that “prominent family” was the Kennedys, Dr. Carmona responded, “You said it. I didn’t.”

From a "what's going to grab the public" point of view, I would think this story tops many others. After all, politicizing the US Attorneys doesn't affect most people since most people aren't likely to be targets of the US Attorneys, but politicizing public health affects everyone. Just look at the response Sicko seems to be getting.

I particularly liked the requirement to mention Bush three times on every page of his speeches. I might have been happy to write speeches that mention Bush three times on every page, but I doubt they'd like the way I mentioned him.