rssDispirited at the CDC
Wednesday, March 05, 2008 at 11:32 am
- 2 Comments
CDC Chatter, the inhouse site for griping about the worrying condition of the agency, is full of various tidbits of bad news. Julie Gerberding was on the Hill on Wednesday defending her shrinking budget. Meanwhile, various probes are being aimed at the agency. A Commerce subcommittee is investigating the apparent suppression of a Great Lakes cancer cluster study while others are accusing the CDC of having taken too long to investigate formaldehyde in the the FEMA trailers. Henry Waxman’s Government Reform Committee is said to be considering a look at how CDC has performed in stopping hospital infections. In the midst of this, John McCain’s erroneous claim that vaccines are linked to autism caused some at the agency to scratch their heads. One longtime staffer wrote on CDCChatter:
The fact that so many people (regardless of how delusional they are) have come to distrust the CDC should be reason enough to remove Gerberding.
CDC’s most important asset has been its ability to put unbiased, well trained, well equipped, and very smart scientists to work on important public health problems to provide the facts needed to drive policy. CDC has traditionally done this more consistently and on a larger scale than anyone else. That is because traditionally CDC has more more resources to apply to problems and CDC’s scientists, as federal employees, have had minimal conflicts of interest.
It has been a privilege for me over the past 20 years to contribute to public health in the United States by being one of those idealistic scientists and it has been even more of a prvilege to work with so many of them. But those days are over. It is time to move on before anything like what the the mercury nuts claim has happened actually does happen.
2 Comments
Comment posted March 8, 2008 @ 4:21 pm
Julie Gerberding is cleaning house. She isn’t just making changes in scientific leadership. Dr Gerberding is quietly removing managment staff that have raised concerns about the activities implemented under her direction. Many of the concerns have been about ethical and legal issues.
For example, she knew about the FEMA trailer problem long before it hit the media. A congressional oversight investigation is now underway. She summarily dismissed scientific and ethical concerns about the consequences of implementing a strategy to improve maternal and infant health in Afghanistan. As a result, Waxman is now investigating this project and the reports about the suffering caused to innocent mothers and babies is enough to turn anyone’s stomach.
But wait, there is more. Someone ought to investigate how Dr Gerberding and Brad Perkins are setting up partnerships with Walmart and Humana and Target —-
Dr Gerberding and her senior staff should resign immediately. They have acted irresponible, unethical, and carried out illegal activites. And if that isn’t enough, they have destroyed the agency’s talent pool and lost the public’s trust.
When is there going to be a public outcry? How much longer does this have to go on before the public health community and Congress calls on Dr. Gerberding to resign?
Comment posted March 8, 2008 @ 10:21 am
Julie Gerberding is cleaning house. She isn't just making changes in scientific leadership. Dr Gerberding is quietly removing managment staff that have raised concerns about the activities implemented under her direction. Many of the concerns have been about ethical and legal issues.
For example, she knew about the FEMA trailer problem long before it hit the media. A congressional oversight investigation is now underway. She summarily dismissed scientific and ethical concerns about the consequences of implementing a strategy to improve maternal and infant health in Afghanistan. As a result, Waxman is now investigating this project and the reports about the suffering caused to innocent mothers and babies is enough to turn anyone's stomach.
But wait, there is more. Someone ought to investigate how Dr Gerberding and Brad Perkins are setting up partnerships with Walmart and Humana and Target —-
Dr Gerberding and her senior staff should resign immediately. They have acted irresponible, unethical, and carried out illegal activites. And if that isn't enough, they have destroyed the agency's talent pool and lost the public's trust.
When is there going to be a public outcry? How much longer does this have to go on before the public health community and Congress calls on Dr. Gerberding to resign?
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