Former US Surgeon General Richard Carmona, MD, MPH, says the American people are not getting facts based on the best science on subjects ranging from stem cell science to sexual education, but rather biased reports aimed at promoting a particular political agenda.
In fact, the selective filtering of the facts on health-related topics and political interference occurred under both Democratic and Republican presidential administrations, Carmona reports.
Carmona, who ended his four-year tenure as the nation's top doctor last year, and previous surgeons general testified before the Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday. Carmona later appeared on PBS's
NewsHour, which posted the
entire interview online.
"You'll notice that the surgeons general who spoke with me came from different administrations," he told the
NewsHour's Judy Woodruff. "They all suffered the same problems. And what we wanted to do is come together with one voice and let the American public know that they should be outraged that their surgeons general of the United States have been marginalized and have been relegated to positions of relatively little importance by political ideology, theology and the appropriate discourse not coming out in society."
The surgeons general called for strengthening the position, in part through increased funding for the office.
Growing Criticism
Carmona, a 1979 graduate of the UCSF School of Medicine, came to San Francisco in March 2004. At that time, he was asked about the growing criticism by some scientists that the Bush administration was stifling scientific research and analysis. "My job is not to make policy," he responded then. "It is my job to tell them what the best science says."
But apparently that approach didn't work under the Bush administration, since policy for most hot-button issues had already been formed prior to his taking the high-profile post. During his
NewsHour interview on Tuesday, Carmona recounted several examples of how his work was stalled.
|
Richard Carmona. Photo/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. |
"Well, reports did not get out in a timely fashion," he said. "My secondhand smoking report took a lot longer because of political vetting. Global health reports that I wanted to get out because of the importance of emerging infections and global problems were stymied because people wanted it to be a political document and not a scientific document.
"And there's many, many other examples. But the overarching issue, really, is our surgeon general should be able to communicate transparently and honestly with the American public on all issues."
Carmona's outcry about the political pressure exerted by the Bush administration follows similar criticisms leveled by the scientific community, including UCSF's famed cell biologist Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD. She was dismissed from President Bush's Council on Bioethics in February 2004, when it was clear that she was not part of the majority of council members who were intent on upholding the White House's views of stem cell research regardless of the scientific evidence.
Concerns about safeguarding scientific integrity have surfaced repeatedly in recent years, particularly in February 2004, when more than 60 leading scientists issued a statement through the Union of Concerned Scientists that the Bush administration had suppressed and distorted scientific analysis from federal agencies, and taken actions that had undermined the quality of scientific advisory panels.
Those concerns were repeated in June 2004 when 48 Nobel laureates, including UCSF Chancellor Mike Bishop, MD, signed an open letter to the American people claiming that the "Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific evidence in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare."
During his brief interview with
UCSF Today in March 2004, Carmona was mindful of his legacy as the 17th surgeon general. He said he hoped that Americans would see him "as an honest broker of good science and health and someone they can trust." He wanted the world to see him as a "credible individual," one who was "unyielding to political pressure."
Related Links:
Former Surgeon General Reports Political Pressure
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS, July 10, 2007
Surgeon General Shares Health Plans for Prevention, PreparednessUCSF Today, April 1, 2004
Blackburn's White House Firing Inflames Science Policy IssuesUCSF Magazine, August 2004
Union of Concerned Scientists: Scientific Intergrity
