Nov. 21, 2005 - 18:43 PST

SCIENCE

It�s a weird, weird world we live in today, rename the games and change the rules. Make black into something white, change the speed and meaning, which boils down to the same-o-same-o as it was before only+ obfuscated by language.

An editorial in Eugene�s Register Guard discusses something along those lines today. In full:

NEVER MIND THE SCIENCE

FDA let politics decide the fate of Plan B

�There was a time not so long ago when Americans simply trusted that no matter which party held the White House, agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration would continue to base decisions on traditional peer-reviewed scientific data.�

�The Bush administration has made such trust seem quaintly na�ve. Nowhere is the evidence of political meddling with the scientific process more disturbing than in the FDA�s transparently trumped up refusal to allow women over-the-counter access to emergency contraception.�

�A recent report from the Government Accountability Officer, the non-partisan investigative arm of Congress, confirms that the FDA�s political appointees repeatedly overruled agency scientists in the emergency contraception approval process.�

�It�s important to remember why easy access to emergency contraception is vital for women. There are more than 3 million unplanned pregnancies annually in the United States, and more than a million abortions. The FDA�s own studies indicated that widespread over-the-counter availability of Plan B could cut the number of unwanted pregnancies in half.�

�Since up to half of unplanned pregnancies end in abortion, the effect on the abortion rate is obvious : Plan B could significantly lower the number of abortions performed in the United States. That�s what makes opposition to Plan B by anti �abortion radicals so self-defeating.�

�The GAO report suggests the Plan B decisions at the top levels of the FDA are covered with the fingerprints of �anti-abortion� and �abstinence only� ideologues within the Bush administration. FDA scientists told the GAO investigators that approval of Plan B was hijacked by the FDA�s upper-level political appointees from the start.�

�After reviewing 40 studies and 15,000 pages of research, three separate FDA offices in 2003 overwhelmingly recommended approval of Barr Laboratories� application to sell Plan B over the counter. It became obvious to FDA scientists that the fix was in when they were notified by top management in early 2004 � before some final studies were concluded � that easing access to Plan B �could not be approved.�

�The heads of the FDA offices that approved Barr�s application refused to sign the agencies letter denying over-the-counter sales. The FDA�s director�s continuing obstruction of access to Plan B led finally to the resignation in August of Susan F. Wood, head of the FDA�s office on women�s health.�

��There are no winners here, even among religious conservatives w ho mistakenly think they�ve prevented over-the �counter access to a thinly veiled abortion pill or a contraceptive that would have promoted teen-age promiscuity. Their �victory� came at the cost of the FDA�s credibility and the loss of a chance to demonstrably reduce the number of U.S. abortions. Americans can�t afford many such victories.

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Abstinence only, I think, for the most part, is admirable, but perhaps given the right combination of hormones, mood, and �right� person, is a goal not easily reached. But, if a girl does have relations with a boy and then decides to take a Plan B medication - - would the far, right, prevent her from contraception and force her into unwanted pregnancy? Often times those things happen to a girl to young to accept responsibility and at too young an age to be able to cope. There are also times that a forced pregnancy will put a baby at the mercy of the world when it sees the light of day. Condoms are over-the-counter contraceptives and what is to prevent a girl from insisting her partner use a condom? And what of the young lady who has been forced and wants to keep it a secret from an overbearing father? Go ahead and have a baby?

Ahh yes, a MALE uses an OVER-THE-COUNTER condom, females are barred from Plan B availability over the counter.

To my mind a woman is NOT pregnant right after relations, so how can the biggies preach anti-abortion? Are they following the Pope in his precepts? When it comes to that, just what mangled line of thought are they faith-based following? The FDA biggies seem to have some very warped ideas of actual SCIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . .

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