Comments on: Don’t Let Politics Affect Science

By: coronda

coronda — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:36:57 +0000

hi dr.manny,im a 38yr old woman who has an abdominal pregnancy and even though the doctors have found the heartbeat and seen it move,they say it is impossible.why is it that third world countries can deliver such a baby but u.s.doctors say that its not medically possible and that i would be dead?as i try seek help which ive failed to do,doctors mostly ask me to leave the hospital even though they see im in alot of pain and they ve even told me that nothing is wrong with me even though my kidney wasnt in my back any more like it should be and a collasped lung and urinating blood.please if you can help me get answers.

By: Opa

Opa — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:19:09 +0000

You lost the politics-over-science battle years ago when the CDC began treating the Second Amendment as a disease. The AIDS fiasco just added to the problem. You’re too late by a long time.

By: Brigid

Brigid — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:43:52 +0000

It is not possible to remove politics from the CDC or science for that matter. As long as scientists have opinions, you will have politics in science. Instead of trying to pretend that politics are some offensive symptom of a greater disease, we have to accept these opinions as what they are. Scientists should be vetted as anyone else is, it is the law that will control how the resources at the CDC are used. Considering our current problem with obesity in our country, the CDC should lead the way by trimming the bloat at their own agency. Pulling back from 54 foreign sites and creating a lean, mean response team that can move between foreign outposts would be a good way to move considering the economic pressures we are currently facing. We cannot wave the fear flag of some pandemic just to increase funding. Again, scientists are no different than other people, they want to get paid and ensure their job security as well as anyone does. We need to know the political influences of ANYONE who wants to run this enormous agency because they will not be swabbing chickens in China, they will be determining where our money is to be spent.

By: rick

rick — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:59:15 +0000

dr. manny, shouldn’t you have been saying this for the last 8 years of the bush administration where politics has trumped science each and every time? this woman was asked to resign because she trumps politics over science. nice try though dr. manny, better luck next time in slanting a story.

By: magnoliasouth

magnoliasouth — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 11:22:23 +0000

As a nurse, I couldn’t agree with you more. The CDC’s bloat could very well fail to protect Americans should the need arise. Politics should not be an issue, but job performance and the ability to run such an organization is key.

Thank you so much for your insight.

By: Chow Rangler

Chow Rangler — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:38:38 +0000

We lost the politics out of CDC battle in the 1980s when AIDS patients were coddled and the public was told to fear heterosexual AIDS.

By: David

David — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:54:05 +0000

Unfortunately science, in recent years, has been trumped by politics on almost every level. If it were not for politics (and ego and money), the global warming nonsense would have been thrown into the trash a long time ago. Instead, we have billions of taxpayer money wasted on carbon trading schemes and the like.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:14:36 +0000

I just hope and pray Obama won’t appoint yet more pro-death, pro-abortion, experiment-on-unborn- children- and- then- discard- them- after- their- stem cells- are- obtained and get-rid-of-the-elderly-via-euthanasia-when-they-are-ill proponents. Heaven help us if he does!! Just because science may be able to do something doesn’t make it right. Just because I may know how to break into my neighbor’s house when they are at work doesn’t make it right for me to do so. The same is true for science. It must be kept in moral check, but unfortunately, we are well out of bounds already.