[eDebate] korcok and George Bush

[Jeff Parcher]

korcok still mindlessly defending the retard-in-chief with such brilliant 
arguments as: "that guy's an idiot."

perhaps korcok could enlighten us on why he thinks Sidney Blumnethal's 
thesis that the Bush Administration has polticized science with 
fundamentalist nonsense is somewhow incorrect.

i'd actually be quite interested in how korcok can defend one of 
Blumenthal's examples: the decision yesterday by the FDA to permanently 
delay approval of Plan B (morning after pill) as an over the counter drug 
despite the fact that the FDA's own scientific panel reccomended in it's 
favor.

i, for one, salute Susan Wood and her decision to resign over this rank 
prioritzation of religious blither over the lives and health of women.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A high-ranking Food and Drug Administration official 
resigned Wednesday in protest over the agency's refusal to allow 
over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Susan Wood, director of FDA's Office of Women's Health, announced her 
resignation in an e-mail to colleagues at the agency. The e-mail was 
released by contraception advocates.

The FDA last Friday postponed indefinitely its decision on whether to allow 
the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to be sold without a prescription. 
The agency said it was safe for adults to use without a doctor's guidance 
but was unable to decide how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers 
without a prescription -- a decision contrary to the advice of its own 
scientific advisers.

"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," wrote Wood, who also was assistant commissioner for women's 
health. "The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency 
contraception, which continues to limit women's access to a product that 
would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my 
core commitment to improving and advancing women's health."

Plan B's maker has been trying for two years to begin nonprescription sales, 
and the FDA's latest postponement of its fate was a surprise: Commissioner 
Lester Crawford won Senate confirmation to take his job only after promising 
members of Congress to make a final decision by September 1.

Crawford announced Friday that the agency considered over-the-counter sales 
to women 17 and older fine, but that younger teens would still need a 
prescription -- and that the agency was unable to decide how pharmacies 
could enforce an age limit, or even if it was legal to have such dual sales.