A physician known for peddling bad science
gains power over health services for millions

From the Houston Chronicle editorial board:

President Bush appointed Massachusetts obstetrician-gynecologist Erik Keroack to direct family planning programs for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Keroack certainly has experience in the field: He was medical director of A Woman's Concern, a chain of crisis pregnancy centers. The organization's Web site calls distribution of birth control "demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality and adverse to human health and happiness."

To dissuade women from choosing birth control or abortion, the group relies on more than ideology. Under Keroack's direction, the centers burdened women with medical information that was twisted, debunked or brazenly fictitious. Among its erroneous claims, the group asserts that condoms "offer virtually no protection"against herpes or HIV. How many cases of sexually transmitted disease has that dangerous disinformation caused? In fact, as Slate magazine notes, the National Instititutes of Health report that condom users have an "85 percent decrease in risk of HIV transmission."

A Woman's Concern also preaches the egregious falsehood that teenagers who receive abortions "may face an eight times greater risk of contracting breast cancer by age 45." This dangerous propaganda has been debunked repeatedly by medical professionals, most recently by the National Cancer Institute.

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This is utterly in keeping with the bullshit pattern of White House appointments to key positions in administrative agencies that's been going on years. The Food and Drug Administration is run by executives plucked straight out of the big pharma and giant agri-business industries. The National Labor Relations Board is staffed by anti-labor corporatists and demagogues. The Environmental Protection agency is led by representatives from the most polluting industries and global warming skeptics. In short, Bush appoints people who he knows are going to do their damndest to completely subvert these agencies' mandated regulatory missions. That is, he's put the wolf in charge of the hen house, again and again.

This shit isn't even shocking any more. It's just plain insulting.

And it's been no different in the conservatives' war on sex. For instance, the FDA held up for years approval of an over-the-counter version of the morning-after birth control pill, for reasons that had nothing to do with safety. Now we have this bozo installed at HHS, and the insults have moved into humiliation territory. Condoms have no effect on HIV? Fucking shit. They act as though we just fell off of a fucking turnip truck.

I'm really glad I'm alone when I read about this stuff 'cause I'm really in the mood to argue with some dumbfuck conservatives. I mean argue like I would with a stump, non-stop, until I'm blue in the face. Goddamned assholes.

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