[This is a risk of having the government "do" science or give advice about sex education... It politicizes what should be objective, neutral, and very important advice. --Declan] --- > New York Times > > November 26, 2002 > http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/26/national/26ABST.html > > Critics Say Government Deleted Web Site Material to Push Abstinence > By ADAM CLYMER > > WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - Information on condom use, the relation between > abortion and breast cancer and ways to reduce sex among teenagers has been > removed from government Web sites, prompting critics to accuse the > Department of Health and Human Services of censoring medical information > in order to promote a philosophy of sexual abstinence. > > Over the last year, the department has quietly expunged information on how > using condoms protects against AIDS, how abortion does not increase the > risk of breast cancer and how to run programs proven to reduce teenage > sexual activity. The posting that found no link between abortion and > breast cancer was removed from the department's Web site last June, after > Representative Christopher H. Smith, a New Jersey Republican who is > co-chairman of the House Pro-Life Caucus, wrote a letter of protest to > Secretary Tommy Thompson calling the research cited by the National Cancer > Institute "scientifically inaccurate and misleading to the public." > > The removal of the information has set off protests from other members of > Congress, mainly Democrats, and has prompted a number of liberal health > advocacy groups to accuse the department of bowing to pressure from social > conservatives. > > The controversy began drawing attention late last month, when > Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat, and other members > of Congress wrote to Mr. Thompson protesting the removal of the material. > Bill Pierce, the department's deputy assistant secretary for media > affairs, said that in all three cases the removals were made so that > material could be rewritten with newer scientific information. He also > said the decisions to remove material had been made by the Centers for > Disease Control and Prevention or the National Institutes of Health > without any urging from the department's headquarters. [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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