On 12 Jul 2004 21:56:39 GMT, (Tom Littleton) wrote:

Allen,
I would have expected better than a Fox News blurb....the truth is, the Bush
admin has systematically eliminated scientists, with no regard to anything
other than the likelyhood of negative, scientifically based conclusions, from a
host of advisory committees. NO administration has ever done so before, NONE!!
Tom

These two articles sure don't say much beside typical left- or
right-wing shouting. The first has a acting director of an FDA
department (an MD, I noted, and apparently, a pre-Bush FDAer) as being
"a member of the Bush administration." The only thing I saw of some
note was in the Fox story where it talked about how many such
bureaucrat/scientists have gone and continue to go down their own paths,
regardless of who's President.

I don't think the good doctor is exactly a key member of Bush's
administration, and moreover, all he did is disallow a prescription drug
from being made an OTC drug. While I can see the _possibility_ that
personal "moral" issues could be at work with the doctor, I saw nothing
in the UK article even hinting at that. A _quick_ google search
indicated that he made the ruling because there was essentially no way
to conduct tests with it on young girls (under 16), some suggested it
might interfere with their development, and so, he erred on the side of
caution, which enraged some liberal scientists, many who are,
apparently, women who claim it interfered with their reproductive
rights.

Right or wrong, I don't see anything making this a Presidential-level
political issue, and certainly nothing directly to do with what one
would normally call "the Bush administration." IOW, even if Ross Perot
enters the race and wins by a write-in movement, Dr. Galson will be at
the FDA come January, 2005.

TC,
R