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June 7, 2006

Gerberding Laments: The Sorry CDC on TB

By Jeff Stier, Esq.

Don't expect your children to learn to properly apologize by watching celebrities and bureaucrats.

Under heat from public officials, Centers for Disease Control chief Julie Gerberding admitted in Congressional testimony that the agency "made a mistake." I was relieved to see this, figuring she must have read ACSH president Dr. Elizabeth Whelan's op-ed in the New York Post, or similar criticism later on MSNBC.com and elsewhere. But instead of apologizing for not getting a quicker and better understanding of TB carrier Andrew Speaker's level of contagiousness or for providing him a safe way home from oversees after telling him not take a commercial flight, she simply said the agency was wrong for giving the Mr. Speaker "the benefit of the doubt" when he was advised not to travel.  

In other words, she says they were only wrong to trust this young man to follow the CDC's ambiguous and disputed science. This is even worse than Matt Lauer's "Do as I say, not as I do" approach to seatbelts.


Jeff Stier is an associate director of the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH.org, HealthFactsAndFears.com).

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Founded in 1978, ACSH is a consumer advocacy organization directed and advised by over 350 physicians, scientists and policy advisors. ACSH promotes the use of sound, peer-reviewed science in the formation of a full  spectrum of  public health policies, including those related to food, pharmaceuticals, environmental chemicals, lifestyle factors, consumer products and terrorism preparedness and response.