September 17, 2005

New FDA Director of Women's Health is Get This - a Male Veterinarian - Updated 9/19

Update: Something is very wrong here. Salon and others picked up the original story, but the original press release was revised. I called the Media number listed on the press release and when I stated that I had a question about the director of women's health, I was forwarded to the automated drug information line.

From Salon:

Update: Shortly after we posted this item, which was based on a press release from Planned Parenthood, a reader alerted us to a press release that was posted today on the FDA's Web site. In that release, the FDA said that Theresa A. Toigo has been appointed as the acting director of the Office of Women's Health. The FDA press release also says, rather cryptically, "This is a revision of this statement posted earlier on September 16." That earlier statement is no longer available on the FDA's site, but, as another reader pointed out, a cached version is still available through Google. Under the heading, "Dr. Norris Alderson -- Acting Director of FDA's Office of Women's Health," Alderson's bio says, "The majority of his FDA career has been in the Center for Veterinary Medicine, holding a number of management positions, culminating in the position of Director, Office of Research." Did the FDA scramble to change acting directors once it realized that Alderson's appointment might invite unhappy comparisons to Michael Brown's tenure at FEMA? Inquiring minds want to know, and are still waiting for calls back to find out.


This isn't a document dump, it's more of a manure dump. Norris E. Alderson, PhD, is our new FDA Director of Women's Health. He's a veterinarian. Somehow the Bush Administration feels he's uniquely qualified to make life and death decisions about women's health and reproductive issues.

Had I realized that veterinarians were so well versed in women's health issues, I could have saved a lot of grief! Maybe instead of using contraception, I should have just gotten spayed. Come to think of it, I know of a few men who should be neutered for the good of mankind.

Meow.

From Ms. Magazine:

Symbolic of the importance the Bush Administration places on women's health, a male veterinarian has been appointed by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Lester Crawford as acting director of the Office of Women's Health. Norris E. Alderson, PhD, has spent the majority of his career at the FDA holding various positions in the Center for Veterinary Medicine.

The Office for Women’s Health, which ensures that the FDA remains gender sensitive and monitors the progress of women’s health initiatives, was most recently headed by Dr. Susan Wood. Wood resigned late last month in protest over the FDA’s refusal to grant over-the-counter status to emergency contraception.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

June 04, 2005

Friday Document Dump - June 3, 2005 edition

The government has a cute habit of releasing documents with embarrassing content on Friday evenings, to avoid widespread coverage. It's not looking like last last night's dump will succeed in flying under the radar. From Yahoo News:


WASHINGTON - U.S. military officials say no guard at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects flushed a detainee's Quran down the toilet, but they disclosed that a Muslim holy book was splashed with urine. In other newly disclosed incidents, a detainee's Quran was deliberately kicked and another's was stepped on.

This, despite the fact that the previous week, "US investigators conceded Thursday that there was mishandling of the Koran but contend it was mostly inadvertent and deny that one had been put in a toilet." Okay so the Quran wasn't placed in a toilet. That part is true. It's kind of hard to argue that urinating on the Quran was inadvertent.


How have we gotten to the point where there is a national debate over the difference between flushing a religious book down the toilet and urinating on it? Callers to C-Span today actually defended Quran abuse and compared it to art that desecrates Christian artifacts, which I agree is in bad taste, as if one justifies another. Quran abuse was conducted by military personnel in our name. I'm horrified.

Posted by Lyn Wall at 08:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack