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September 20, 2005
Chris Mooney on the Bush Administration and Plan B
Chris Mooney, the author of The Republican War on Science, has a mini sequel on the Op-Ed page of today's Los Angeles Times. He explains how the current administrating is abusing and ignoring science to prevent the over the counter sale of the emergency contraception, Plan-B. As Mooney days,
" . . .the scientific data indicate that Plan B contraception is one of the safest drugs ever considered for over-the-counter sale."
Yet, Plan B is not in keeping with the Administration's ideology. And therefore, they feel perfectly free to abuse science to advance their ideological goals. Two scientific advisory board recommendations matter not at all. The Administration appointees continue to ask for more data and find more ways to delay approval. Noting that the FDA has resisted the influence of political ideology in the past, Mooney concludes,
But not any more — and that's the really nasty thing about the current war on science. If you can get past the complicated details, you'll see that it is undermining our government's most central mission: to serve and protect us. This mandate cannot be fulfilled without an abiding respect for professionalism, expertise and the integrity of scientific analysis.
But I am afraid that Mooney makes a crucial error in this paragraph. He assumes that the current Administration views the "central mission" of government is "to serve and protect us." There is ample evidence that the Bush Administration thinks otherwise, unless, of course, "us" means people earning over $250,000.00 a year or having assets that generate that amount or more without working. That elitist "us" can afford to get a doctor's prescription today for Plan B just in case of an emergency. The rest of us can wait and wait and wait.
Posted by DuaneSmith at September 20, 2005 09:35 AM | Read more on Science - General |
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