Friday, September 02, 2005
Editorial: The obstinate Plan A
As the FDA delays sales of Plan B, the Bush administration holds steady to its core belief: Science should never impede politics.
The Food and Drug Administration's chief can't come right out and ban over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, known as Plan B. That decision would run counter to scientific evidence and exhaustive medical trials that find the drug (similar in composition to the common oral contraceptive) a safe and effective method of preventing pregnancies.
Dr. Lester M. Crawford would be hard-pressed to find a shred of science to back a ban.
But Crawford, a Bush appointee beholden to the morally righteous who believe that anything beyond a nation of abstinence-only practitioners would further weaken society, couldn't just approve the drug.
Instead he devised the lamest excuse for yet again delaying a decision beyond the agreed-upon Sept. 1 deadline: How could the FDA keep Plan B out of the hands of children?
The far too simple answer of requiring ID, as with any product reserved for mature users, escaped the FDA chief because that would force him to approve the drug.
Crawford's politicizing of a medical issue prompted the resignation of the head of women's health at FDA. Susan F. Wood wrote in explaining her resignation: "I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled."
Wood is learning what so many other top officials in the administration have discovered. The political agenda is inviolate. And if the agenda prescribes that one twist facts so that a method to prevent unwanted pregnancies is equivalent to killing babies, then science be hanged.
This is not a novel approach by an administration that has launched investigations into scientists whose research supports the existence of global warming and that it is caused largely by power plant emissions.
Not just science is suspect by this administration that retaliates against those who challenge its spin on reality.
In the last 10 days:
n A high-level Army Corps of Engineers official was demoted because she questioned the multi-billion dollar, no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton (the vice president's old firm) for work in Iraq.
n A justice official was demoted after he refused to delete references to racial disparity from a statistical compilation of a study that set out to determine whether police engage in racial profiling.
Such White House capriciousness just isn't acceptable.
