Who's minding the "minders?" (part 2)

In the last Daily Dose, I filled you in on the ongoing saga of deposed FDA head Lester Crawford - specifically, his multiple federal conflict-of-interest allegations and his guilty plea-down of them to a pair of measly misdemeanor charges. But what's most telling about this whole sordid tale is HOW he got confirmed to be head of the FDA to begin with. It's a fitting story for the month before an election. Here it is:

As it turns out (and as I reported in my 5/30 Daily Dose), Bush appointee Crawford's confirmation was far from assured back in the summer of 2005. In fact, it was only a back-room deal between Republican Crawford's cronies and a pair of Democrat Senators - Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington - that gave him the two swing votes he needed to squeak by into the position.

The nature of that deal: That Crawford would hasten an FDA decision on the approval of a certain prescription drug (Barr's "morning after" contraceptive pill called Plan B) for over-the-counter sales, even to minors. That decision had been stalled at great length by Crawford's predecessor, prompting a lawsuit from at least one women's rights group.

However, in exchange for these two Senators' confirmatory votes in July of 2005, Crawford's camp promised a review and decision on Plan B by September of that year. Said decision didn't come - and lo and behold, along comes a federal investigation of his alleged financial shenanigans by April of 2006…

Quite a coincidence, huh? Hell hath no fury like a woman (or women) scorned, I guess.

Now don't get me wrong - it's altogether well and proper that a head of the FDA should be strung out to dry for owning shares in companies he's in position to aid via regulation (or lack thereof). But it does beg the question: What did Senators Clinton and Murray know, and when did they know it? After all, Crawford was acting as chief of the FDA for more than a year prior to his nomination for the official head post…

In other words, did it not matter to them that Crawford had financial conflicts until AFTER he reneged on his deal to hustle Plan B through to approval for over-the-counter sales - which could cost these Senators many thousands of votes from left-leaning "reproductive rights" advocates in the coming election?

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Ironically, just weeks before Election Day, the heretofore dead-in-the-water Plan B has all of a sudden gotten a new lease on life for over-the-counter sales, according to a recent Associated Press article…

Federal officials from the FDA ruled in late August that Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. could begin to offer Plan B for sale without a prescription to women age 18 or older. This is a major victory for "reproductive rights" groups - even though their original goal was that even minors as young as 16 should be able to buy the pill in any corner pharmacy!

Here's what's so ironic about the timing of this: It was once again pressure from a pair of Senators (Hillary Clinton again being one of them) that likely facilitated this new policy using their votes as carrots.

According to Wikipedia, the AP and other sources, Clinton and another Democrat from Washington, Maria Cantwell, said they'd block the official confirmation of Crawford's successor as acting head of the FDA (former Director of the National Cancer Institute Andrew von Eschenbach) if rapid progress was not made toward legalization of OTC sales of Plan B…

But with the new ruling in place (surprise - it came on the eve of a Senate hearing on whether or not to confirm Eschenbach), his slot as head of the FDA now looks assured.

What's also assured is that now that the "Plan B" abortion-in-a-pill is available to most young girls without a doctor's visit or parental consent, we'll be seeing an even greater incidence of STD infections for girls with no need for a "Plan A" for reducing the likelihood of pregnancy - like marginally effective (but better than nothing) condoms, or the 100% effective abstinence!

Does this seem like progress toward a healthier America?

Exposing corruption - and coitus non-interruption,

William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.