Bush Buddy Squelched Health Report

Appointee suppressed surgeon general's unfavorable paper
By Sam Biddle,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2007 1:47 PM CDT
Bush Buddy Squelched Health Report
U.S. Surgeon General Vice Adm. Richard Carmona gestures during a Washington news conference, in this file photo from June 27, 2006. Carmona, the nation's 17th surgeon general, told lawmakers Tuesday July 10, 2007 that all surgeons general have had to deal with politics but none more so than he.(AP...   (Associated Press)

A Bush appointee spiked a 2006 surgeon general's report on global health issues for not promoting the administration's policy efforts, WaPo reports. Richard Steiger, an HHS official and longtime Bush family friend, suppressed a report urging Americans to take on global health problems, and discussed connections between poverty and illness.

Steiger, who has no background in health policy or medicine, demanded that the report contain language praising the administration's successes. Another senior official told the report's team "this will be a political document, or it will not be released." Steiger released a statement denying the charges, claiming the report was not published due to "lack of scientific rigor." (More Bush administration stories.)

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