This is going to make me sound like the total nerd that I am, but here we go: I grew up with a deep-seated admiration for Dr. C. Everett Koop. Who is that? He was the only member of the U.S. government that I knew, besides the president, when I was in grade school. He was the nation’s Surgeon General from 1982-1989, and was a tireless advocate for the publicizing of cigarettes’ dangerous health effects, particularly the addictive effects of nicotine, and a tireless spokesman on the prevention of AIDS [1]. It was for the latter that he became a person hated by those afraid of human sexuality. He insisted on sex education for younger children, sent information about AIDS essentially door-to-door in the U.S., and insisted that a comprehensive approach to prevention, including condoms, needed to be central to the fight against AIDS. To the President’s credit, Reagan never interfered in Koop’s work, despite external pressure.
Dr. Koop left his position when President H. W. Bush assumed office. Dr. Jocelyn Elders, who held the position during the Clinton administration, became infamous for her suggestion that encouraging masturbation, as a means to curb participation in riskier forms of sexual activity, could be part of an approach to stemming the tide of AIDS [2]. Clinton asked for her resignation. One of the lessons from the tenure of these two vocal and, dare I say it, brave individuals is that despite the fact that politicians can’t keep their pants on very long, they sure do hate it when people talk about what happens when the pants come off.
The climate in the current administration is no different, it seems. Surgeon General Carmona, and his predecessors, all testified before Congress today about the pattern of ignorance, or even suppression, that crosses all administration boundaries in the Executive Branch [3]. Carmona gets to add something new to the list: basic research. “When he wanted to launch a public education campaign on the science of stem-cell research, he was told he couldn’t. ‘I was blocked at every turn, told the decision had already been made. Stand down, don’t talk about it,’ he said” [4]. Regardless of your feelings about how stem cells get produced, the science of the stem cell is an exciting and important part of human development, and human health issues.
Sadly, Carmona suggests that he was prevented from even engaging the public about the science. On the other hand, I wonder how hard he really tried? I mean, Koop wrote reports about nicotine that stuck their tongue out in the face of the tobacco lobby, he sent AIDS prevention literature to American households, and Elders used the “m”-word at an AIDS conference. While the second of those three things costs money, how much money does it cost these days to make an electronic paper available about stem cells? How much money does it cost to call the press into your office and talk about stem cell science, or about a comprehensive approach to AIDS prevention, including condoms?
The administration even had a press release to this effect: “[He was] given ample opportunity to communicate his views to the American
people, and he routinely did so in hundreds of appearances before the
public, the media and Congress.” However, I’m not exactly going to take the word of the administration on this one. It’s the pattern that matters, anyway, a pattern that crosses party lines and time lines. Koop, Satcher, and Carmona all felt at various times that their efforts were stifled, though none worse than Carmona (according to the testimony of all three today).
I’d have more faith in the administration’s position if they hadn’t nominated James Holsinger as Carmona’s replacement. See my next blog entry for details on this guy.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Everett_Koop
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jocelyn_Elders
[3] “Carmona Says Bush Officials Muzzled Him”
[4] “Ex-Surgeon General Says Administration Interfered”
