The Nation - Surgeon general nominee vows science over politics - The candidate says he would resign if ideology interfered with his job.
WASHINGTON — President Bush's candidate for surgeon general, facing an uphill struggle to win confirmation, told the Senate on Thursday that he's committed to science and would resign if pressured to slant his recommendations for ideological reasons.
"I would use the science to attempt to educate the policymakers," said Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., a prominent Kentucky physician, medical educator and former government official. "Quite candidly, if I were unable to do that and I was being overridden
Still, no Democrats indicated they would support him, and fewer than half the members of the Senate panel holding the hearing on his nomination attended.
Holsinger's nomination is opposed by major gay and lesbian groups and others concerned about views he expressed in a 1991 paper suggesting that homosexuality is abnormal.
Separately, concerns that ideology has trumped medical science in the Bush administration were heightened this week after former Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona told Congress that his professional advice was censored to conform to political and religious views.
Holsinger struck some independent notes Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He said he supported an advertising ban on prescription drugs. He underscored his advocacy for higher tobacco taxes. And he said that using condoms was important for preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, and suggested condoms were appropriate for teens.
Those stands could put him at odds with administration positions.
But Holsinger also indicated support for the president's restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research -- putting him at odds with a majority of lawmakers in Congress and many in the scientific community.
If confirmed as surgeon general, Holsinger has vowed to launch a national crusade against childhood obesity.
After more than two hours of answering questions from senators, it was unclear if he convinced any skeptics.
Holsinger's difficulties initially stemmed from a paper he wrote in 1991 arguing that sex between men was contrary to nature's design and was associated with infectious diseases and cancer. The paper was prepared for a committee of the United Methodist Church, in which Holsinger has served as a high-ranking lay official. The church has been embroiled in a contentious debate over policies toward gays.
