Anti-Plan B FDA officials get promoted!

Ok, so I was clearly out of it this week and failed to notice that Steve Galson has been named acting surgeon general. Galson is the FDA official who said it was his personal decision to deny the application to sell Plan B over-the-counter without a prescription. Also, this:

The draft GAO report indicates that Galson voiced concerns in FDA meetings about how easier availability of Plan B would effect sexual behavior by girls.

That’s the kind of talk that gets you promoted to act as “the nation’s doctor” in this administration!

“In my mind the ‘acting’ is off the title. I am going to be the surgeon general and actively engage in policy and education,� he says.

Well, at least the nation’s women and girls have that to look forward to. Galson takes over the post on Monday, as the Senate has not yet made a decision on Bush’s surgeon general pick, James Holsinger.
And who’s getting promoted at the FDA to replace Galson as director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research? Janet Woodcock, the FDA official who said that the over-the-counter availablilty of Plan B would lead to

“extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an ‘urban legend’ status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.�

That’s right: The infamous teen sex cults quote. Woodcock also said Plan B shouldn’t be sold over-the-counter to teens — not because of the science but “to appease the administration’s constituents.” Again, it’s no wonder she’s been promoted.