permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Hoffman=20
To: Richard_Hoffman@emerson.edu=20
Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2003 11:15 AM
Subject: the war at home

Date: Wed, 05 Feb 2003 15:56:51 -0500

President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up
the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory
Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which
time its charter has lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked
 with filling all eleven positions with new members.
This position does not require Congressional approval. The FDA's Reproductive
Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating
to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related 
specialties,
including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility,
and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and 
pregnancy
termination.
Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream
of setback for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who
describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to
unmarried women. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women: Restoring
Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing women
with case studies from Hager's practice.
In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and the Woman's
Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should 
seek
help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author
of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality, 
Reproductive
Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically
inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
Hagar's mission is religiously motivated. He has an ardent interest in 
revoking
approval for mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and early form
of medical abortion. Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical Association
in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon the FDA to revoke its approval of
mifepristone in the name of women's health. Hager's desire to overturn 
mifepristone's
approval on religious grounds rather than scientific merit would halt the
development of mifepristone as a treatment for numerous medical conditions
disproportionately affecting women, including breast cancer, uterine cancer,
uterine fibroid tumors, psychotic depression, bipolar epression and Cushing's 
syndrome.
Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe and effective drugs for
 reproductive health care including products that prevent pregnancy. For some
women, such as those with certain types of diabetes and those undergoing 
treatment
for cancer pregnancy can be a life-threatening condition.
We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his 
assessment
of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and
promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to 
guide
his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate 
to
serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and research
must not be held hostage by antiabortion politics.
Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science
and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no 
less.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE WHITE HOUSE
   AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE ON ANY LEVEL.
Please email President Bush at:
president@whitehouse.gov
or call the White House at:
(202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1414 and say:

"I oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs 
Advisory Committee.
Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA to promote a 
political agenda is
inappropriate and seriously threatens all women's health."

Do it


Richard Hoffman
3 Gladstone Street
Cambridge, MA 02140
(617) 661-8043
http://www.abbington.com/hoffman/index.html=20

--
L.F.London
lfl@intrex.net
http://market-farming.com
http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/pcwiki/index.php/london