Oh, the irony
Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 02:11:43 AM PDT
I am not sure whether this is already widely known, but I had not seen it here.
In yesterday's issue of the scientific journal Nature (note that it was published on International Women's Day) I just read a brief news article (this link will not work for most of you, since it is subscribed content) saying that the US FDA is considering a plan to slash the budget of its its small office dedicated to women's health by one third.
A little more below the fold...
In a spending plan being developed for the remainder of 2007, FDA administrators have proposed cutting $1.2 million from the $4-million budget of the Office of Women's Health. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA commissioner, said that no final decision had been made about the spending plan.
Critics charge that the proposal amounts to retaliation by the Bush administration against the stand taken by the women's office in favour of making Plan B, the 'morning-after' contraceptive, available without prescription (see Nature 437, 179; doi:10.1038/437179a 2005).
The latter link is subscribed content again.
I do not know when this became public and I certainly wouldn't put it beyond the current US government, but I found it very ironic to read this in the Nature issue published on International Women's Day...
