Bush* to appoint fundie to key FDA position

[KamaAina]

Got this in an email from KaMakuahineOKamaAina (or just "Mom" for short :-) ): her first contribution to DU, and just when I was thinking she'd gone hopelessly soft and centrist since she moved in with the Repuke! Maika'i no, E ka makuahine! (Very fine, indeed, Mom!)

Maybe this nutjob could go work in the bookstore at Grand Canyon National Park instead...

---

From: "------- ----" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Bush appointment
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2004 01:42:59 +0000

President (sic) Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members. This position does not require Congressional approval. (Typical. "Every evildoer hateth the light of day." -Ed.)

The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial
decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of
obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone
therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical
alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy
termination.

Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the
mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing
OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe
contraceptives to unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case studies from Hager's practice.

In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the
Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual
syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. (Cooment self-censored -Ed.) As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.

Hager's mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in
revoking approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form of medical abortion. Hagar recently assisted the
Christian Medical Association (yikes! -Ed.) in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the name of women's health.

Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's syndrome.

Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effective drugs for reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy. For some women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing treatment for cancer, pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition. We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and promote women's health.

Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical
decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to
serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and
research must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics. Members of
this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and
medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON YOU KNOW WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.

2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE AND
TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.


Please email President (sic) Bush at [e-mail] and say
"I oppose the appointment of Dr. W. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable in a policy-making position. Using the FDA to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens women's health."

[tom_paine]

1. Sure another fox in charge of the henhouse

Just another day in Imperial Amerika.

What happens when there are no henhouses left for the Busheviks to raid, loot, pervert and destroy?

One wonders...

[eyesroll]

2. This guy already has been appointed, so the action alert's too late.

Blech.

[cosmicaug]

3. Enough with Dr. Hager already.

If you send the e-mail as instructed, you only show yourself to be ignorant. The appointment has already happened. See http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/hager.htm . Don't spread this misinformation.

If you want to express your displeasure at the appointment (though it's not like [e-mail] is going to give a damn), that's something else.

[PVnRT]

4. I thought this was happening some time ago?

Seriously, I thought this flared up and died out over a year ago - was that something else?