Tuesday, May 09, 2006

"Health Experts Criticize Changes in STD Panel"

Read the full article by Rob Stein in The Washington Post of Tuesday, May 9, 2006.

The Bush administration is at it again:
An aide to Rep. Mark Edward Souder (R-Ind.), sent an e-mail April 26 to the Department of Health and Human Services raising questions about a panel titled "Are Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs a Threat to Public Health?"
The congressman also reportedly alarmed because one of the speakers was focusing on a report produced by the office of Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) that was critical of abstinence programs, and because no one would be speaking in support of such programs.
In response, the CDC last week changed the name of the panel to "Public Health Strategies of Abstinence Programs for Youth," removed the panelist discussing the Waxman report and added two proponents of abstinence, Eric Walsh of Loma Linda University in California and Patricia Sulak of Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Texas, founder of an abstinence-promotion program called Worth the Wait.......

Bruce Trigg of the New Mexico Department of Public Health, the original organizer, condemned the decision as political meddling in the scientific process. The original panel was vetted through a formal peer-review process by independent researchers.

"It is unprecedented that this type of interference takes place at a scientific meeting," Trigg said. He said the original panel was not designed to be a balanced critique but to present the public health concerns about abstinence programs.

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