IGNORED, MARGINALIZED OR SIMPLY BURIED


Dr. Richard Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general, has accused the Bush administration of political interference, such as censoring his speeches and preventing him from speaking publicly on issues such as contraceptives and abstinence-only sex education.
"I was blocked at every turn . . . Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Carmona testified before Congress. "The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science."
Carmona's term expired in July 2006. The nominee to replace him, Dr. James Holsinger, has been denounced by the Human Rights Campaign, the HIV Medical Association and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for authoring a 1991 paper that made a medical argument against homosexuality. The American Public Health Association is also "very concerned with Dr. Holsinger's past writings regarding his views of homosexuality, which put his political and religious ideology before established medical science.

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