Well, maybe not the end but a giant step forward for mankind (or should I say, humankind). From the annals of health history comes a major historical event–anesthesia. Imagine having surgery without it. I couldn’t even imagine getting a tooth filled without some sort of anesthetic, let alone getting sliced open.

Today in 1846, one of the most monumental events took place. I think it was even more monumental that figuring out handwashing helped prevent infections. American dentist William T.G. Morton (1819-1868) extracted a tooth from a patient named Eben H. Frost, using ether as an anesthesic. I bet Eben was in heaven.

Morton did not invent ether, nor was he the first one to use it during a surgical procedure. But he gets a foothold in medical history because he was the first to publicly demonstrate and document its use. So he brought ether out of the closet, so to speak, and paved the way for the general acceptance of anesthesia.

Not strictly health news, but since Ahnald, better known as governor Schwartzenegger, has declared war on nurses and decent health care, his latest antics are worth mentioning. And some of them do directly affect the health care industry (notice I said industry).

First, Arnold vetoed a bill which would have raised the minimum wage in California. Never mind that Arnold has professed a love for the poor and disenfranchised, and has said that he supports the “concept” of raising wages for the lowest paid. I guess there’s a difference in supporting a concept than in actually doing something constructive about it.

“The minimum wage has not been increased since 2002, and I believe it is now appropriate,” the governor said in his message. “This is a position I made very clear to the author. However, I have also made it clear that I do not support automatic increases to the wage that relieve elected officials of their duty to consider all of the impacts each increase to the wage will have on workers and businesses.”

He also vetoed a bill that would have imposed stiff financial penalties on employers who are found to be paying equally qualified employees at different rates. Well, we know what Arnold thinks of women, who tend to be the employees getting paid less. What a guy. Girls are for groping and they’re also “set dressing.”

And here’s one for the health care industry. Arnold vetoed a bill that would have forced employers and insurers who take injured employees to court before paying out workers’ compensation benefits to pay a penalty. Schwarzenegger said current law already penalizes companies that unreasonably delay or refuse to pay benefits.

It does? Gee, so then why was this even an issue if there is already a law in place. And how are they “penalized?” By getting a smack on the wrist and paying a $20 fine?

Arnold becomes more sickening by the day. I hope he gets his butt whipped come election time. I sure wish he would go off in search of John Connor and leave California alone.

SFGate.com

No, this has nothing to do with terroists, although, I think trying to sneak toxic crap into organically grown food is a pretty serious offense. People buy items labeled organics because they want to eat food that is free (as much as possible) from being tampered with. They don’t believe the paternalistic approach of the FDA that “you can trust us.” I’d sooner trust a vampire guarding a blood bank, thank you.

Anyway, some good news and bad news on the new attack on organics that I posted about last week. So if you value food quality, and don’t want your food supply controlled by monolithic industries, then please contact your representative.

UPDATE: STOP THE SNEAK ATTACK ON ORGANIC STANDARDS

Last week, the Organic Consumers Association alerted you and all of our supporters about a “Sneak Attack” on organic standards in the U.S. Congress. As a result, network members deluged the U.S. congress with over 60,000 emails and 10,000 telephone calls. Thank you for your support. This nearly unprecedented grassroots upsurge has temporarily rattled Congress and the industry, delaying the initial Sneak Attack in the Senate on organic standards, resulting in a temporary compromise amendment (H.R. 2744), which calls for “further study of the issue.”

Unfortunately we are on the threshold of another, possibly even more serious, follow-up attack on organic standards in the House/Senate Conference Committee over the next week as Congress members put the final wording together for the 2006 Congressional Agriculture Appropriations Bill. The OCA is calling on consumers and the organic community to apply pressure to their House of Representatives members as well as their Senators to stop the Conference Committee from degrading the standards. If you haven’t already done so, please send a letter to congress here: http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd-ofpa.htm

If you’re pregnant, or thinking about it, best to exchange your Paxil for something else. While the results aren’t conclusive (and they never are in any scientific studies), there’s a good possibility that Paxil is going to mess with your baby’s normal development. And since this study was sponsored by the manufacturer, and they actually released the negative results–that’s all the more reason to pay attention.

U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.

A study sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, the drug’s maker, suggested that infants born to women taking Paxil were at about double the risk of birth defects compared with women taking other antidepressants. The most common defects were cardiovascular. The risks were about 50 percent higher than they were in the general population.

Forbes.com

Something really doesn’t smell quite right. Not that I have any remorse over Lester Crawford’s departure, but isn’t it a little bit strange that he would accept the post of commissioner only to resign two months later? According to Forbes.com, Lester says that he was “tired.” Poor dear.

Lester M. Crawford, who resigned as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration last Friday, told Forbes.com that he decided to leave the agency because he was tiring after three years at the agency. He denies that financial conflicts of interest had anything to do with his decision to resign.

The article goes on to say that he considered retiring on Sept 1. Now, it isn’t like he stepped into the job in July and was stunned to find that he actually had to go to work and deal with all that goes with the FDA. He was already acting commissioner for two years, during which time he had plenty on his plate, including the Vioxx scandal, questions about suicide and antidepressants, and of course, that ever pesky morning-after pill. The position wasn’t new to him, and if he was so “tired” then why take the position?

In addition to being worn out by working 20-hour days, Crawford says several other factors contributed to his decision. First, there had been a great deal of controversy over decisions related to the “morning-after pill,” a form of birth control that Barr Laboratories (nyse: BRL – news – people ) has tried to take over the counter, and RU-486, the abortion pill. He says he didn’t feel ready to deal with another set of such controversies.

Please, the controversy over the morning after pill and RU-486 (something entirely different) did not crop up this month. Lester was dealing with them, or at least supposed to be, over the past two years. Nothing has occurred since July that wasn’t already ongoing at the FDA. None of the problems, scandals, and other issues.

So basically, it just sounds like a lot of bull. Maybe he took the position of commissioner so he could retire with a higher pension and better retirement package? Can’t rule that sucker out. Maybe Lester Crawford can get together with Michael Brown and they can start their own agency. Incompetent Fools, Inc. Now that has a catchy ring to it.

One of the more disturbing bits of news for today. It seems that the members of our Congress prefer to see victims of rape suffer as much as possible. Seems to be going back to the old adage of how rape is the woman’s fault, and she must’ve “brought it on.” Even if the rape victim is 90 years old and wheelchair bound. Those varicose veins and elastic stockings must have been some aphrodisiac.

At any, this applies to women who can become pregnant as a result of rape. Congresswoman Maloney (NY) has been trying to get legislature passed that would require rape victims be given information about emergency contraception so that they don’t get pregnant. But it seems that far too many believe that to somehow be “immoral” and I suppose think its better to let nature take its course. Which means some of these women will get pregnant, and most will undoubtedly abort the fetuses. So for anyone who claims to be opposed to abortion, this move seems ver contradictory, n’est-ce pas?

The following is a press release from the office of Congresswoman Maloney:

Attempts to Help Rape Victims Prevent Pregnancies Blocked in Congress

“No victim of rape should have to become pregnant

with her rapist’s child,” says Rep. Maloney, author of amendments

WASHINGTON, DC – Two attempts to give rape victims an important medical option that would prevent pregnancies have been blocked in Congress. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) offered two amendments to the Department of Justice Authorization bill that are intended to give rape victims information about using emergency contraceptives (EC) after their assaults. However, the House Rules Committee would not allow the amendments to the House floor for consideration.

The Department of Justice’s first ever National Protocol for treating sexual assault victims, which serves as a guideline for emergency medical personnel across the country, contains no mention of offering emergency contraceptives to rape victims. One of Maloney’s amendments would have ensured that the option of using emergency contraceptives is added to the protocol (text of amendment: http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/choice/092805ProtocolAmendment.pdf). The other would have required the Attorney General to explain to Congress why emergency contraceptives were left out (text of amendment: http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/choice/092805AmendmentAG.pdf).

“No victim of rape should have become pregnant with her rapist’s child,” said Maloney. “Rape victims should be treated with nothing but compassion, and they do not deserve to have information on any medical option withheld from them. For the Department of Justice to withhold a medical option that would prevent pregnancy-by-rape was an outrage. Now Congress has followed suit.”

Background

In January, soon after the final version of the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination first became public knowledge, Reps. Maloney, Michael Michaud (ME-02) and a group of 95 bipartisan colleagues sent a letter to DOJ urging the inclusion of EC in the Protocol (http://www.house.gov/maloney/issues/choice/011305DOJ.pdf).

Reps. Maloney, Christopher Shays (R-CT), Diane E. Watson (D-CA) and James R. Langevin (D-RI) introduced the Best Help for Rape Victims Act (H.R. 1214) earlier this year. The bill would require the Department of Justice to include EC in the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination (http://www.house.gov/maloney/press/109th/20050310protocol.htm).

Additionally, on February 10, Congresswoman Maloney was denied an opportunity to speak and led to believe she could not submit testimony at a public hearing held by the Justice Department that was scheduled to gather public comment on the Protocol. Instead of having her statement or written testimony accepted, Maloney was asked to leave by an official who suggested that if she did not leave security would be called

(http://www.house.gov/maloney/press/109th/20050210FDA.htm).

The Justice Department’s exclusion of EC in its national protocol runs counter to the beliefs of most of the nation’s top organizations and scientists. The American College of Emergency Physicians includes EC in its sexual assault protocols, and the American College of Gynecology explicitly recommends that EC should be offered to all victims if they are at risk of pregnancy.

An interesting blog report about Brown’s showdown with the Congressional committee. He quotes from several different media sources and then offers some of his own analysis.

The Moderate Voice

Have some dignity, you may think. Have some pride. Just lick your wounds, cut your losses and quietly disappear.

But instead, former head of FEMA Michael Brown is now trying to prove his innocence. That the fiasco that occurred in Louisiana, and in the other affected states as well, had absolutely nothing to do with him. Indeed, the lack of aid and preparation is the total fault of the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans.

Now you may wonder how anyone could be as stupid as Brown, to actually stand before a House Committee and blatantly deny that he had anything to do with all of the screw-ups. He is actually making himself appear heroic, that he did everything possible to save lives and it was only the incompetents surrounding him that kept him from doing his job.

Duh, Mikey, if you were so competent and efficient, then why were you relieved of your post? Why did Bush replace you? Because you were doing a heck of a job? Gee Mikey, how is it that you had no idea that 25,000 people were sitting at the New Orleans Convention Center without food and water, when the news had already been reporting on it for a day? Why didn’t you send help immediately? Were you too busy trying to look busy, or did the immensity of the situation not compute in your pea brain?

I have already written quite a bit on this dork, so I won’t rehash here. But it is astounding how this jackass is trying to redeem himself and pass the buck. Mikey did a superb job, and everyone else fucked up.

Fortunately, the committee members, from both parties, were not taken by his inane attempt to clear his putrid name.

Committee members, however, took umbrage with Brown’s account of who was to blame, and leveled harsh criticism at him.

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who lost his home to the hurricane, and Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), excoriated the former FEMA head for his own failures in the face of the disaster.

Taylor took issue with Brown’s assertion that the disaster relief effort was far more effective in Alabama and Mississippi where, Brown said, the governors responded competently to the emergency.

“I was there, and I didn’t recall seeing you there,” a stone-faced Taylor told Brown.

Taylor said that local volunteers were forced to loot stores to get the food, water and clothes they needed, and then were forced to ration the stolen food as they waited for days for FEMA to arrive.

“You folks fell on your face,” Taylor said. “You get an F-minus in my book.” President Bush, Taylor told Brown, “made a very good move when he asked you to leave your job.”

Shays echoed that sentiment, telling Brown: “I’m happy you left. That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren’t capable of doing that job.”

I wonder if Mikey realizes what a fool he is making of himself. He is even denying that he embellished his resume, even though there is ample evidence that he lied about his previous experience. What is also astonishing is that he feels absolutely no remorse. None. Zip. That his lack of action and gross inexperience is possibly the cause of hundreds of death, and resulted in unnecessary pain and suffering of tens of thousands more.

Another man with a little more pride, decency and higher IQ would quietly vanish from the public eye, or go and turn himself into fertilizer. He should be held accountable for his crimes, and be charged with manslaughter and criminal negligence.

Michael Brown, it was bad enough that you screwed up so royally. And now you have the audacity to sit before a House Committee and blame everyone under the sun for the fiasco, except yourself. What a pitiful little twirp you are. I hope you get the same “assistance” if you are ever in need. In the meanwhile, do us all a favor and lock your pathetic self in your bathroom and never come out. Better yet, flush yourself down the toilet.

LA Times.com

I have managed to begin add the long promised links to my blog. And so here are my first few nurse blogs. More will be added as I scan cyberspace, searching for nurses who write interesting and frequently updated blogs about nursing, healthcare, and related topics. Personal stuff is okay, as long as the majority of the blog isn’t about their trip to Wal-Mart, or Sammy’s new tooth, or that Molly got wasted last night and woke up in bed with a strange man (actually, that might be interesting).

I am collecting blogs and links, and adding them is very simple. It’s just a matter of getting around to doing it.

Sort of a new twist on the military’s policy for gay recruits, only in this case, I’m talking about the FDA. They don’t want you to ask, and they don’t want to tell. Anyone who’s been keeping tabs on the FDA for the past decade or two knows just how low they’ve dropped on the integrity scale, but it seems that they are now scraping bottom.

Traci Johnson’s body was discovered on Feb. 7, 2004, hanging by a scarf from a shower rod in an Indianapolis laboratory run by the drug company Eli Lilly. The 19-year-old college student had been serving as a test subject in a clinical trial of the experimental antidepressant duloxetine. Investigators from the Food and Drug Administration rushed to Indianapolis to determine whether the experimental drug was related to her death. The probe was inconclusive.

This left researchers in a quandary: Was the drug safe or not? Could duloxetine trigger suicide, as some experts suggested? Or was Johnson’s death an “isolated tragedy,” as Eli Lilly claimed? When drug manufacturers fail to publish negative study results, as studies show is often the case, the best source of information about these questions is the FDA. The agency—which was rocked last week by the sudden resignation of Commissioner Lester Crawford—requires companies seeking approval for a drug to provide data from randomized controlled trials, studies in which some patients are given the drug and others are given a placebo. But when researchers and the press started asking about duloxetine, the FDA didn’t scour its database and go public. It kept quiet.

An interesting article on Slate.com not only delves into the FDA’s desire to keep undesirable information secret, but also chronicles a very frustrated journalist’s attempt to delve into the truth.

Good reading for a Tuesday morning. It will make you want to clear out all of your prescription drugs and chuck them into the garbage bin.

Good intentions but just not motivated. I’ve been working on rewriting a really bad written document (penned by an MD), and now that I’m seeing microbes before my eyes, I’m not much in the mood to do the link thing. But never fear, my blog will be updated at some point.

I am finally working on one of my many projects that I have in mind for this blog, the most simple being additional links. I’ve started now (after a year) collecting links to other blogs, as well as websites, and will begin adding them today. It is a bit of a chore, because while there are many health related blogs out there, many were started with all the best intentions but bit the dust early on. Several I looked at hadn’t seen the light of an update in over two years. So my criteria is that the blog needs to be updated on a regular basis and is ongoing. And of course, is interesting. Not just one of those “today I went to the store and someone stepped on my toe” sort of things, that just happens to be written by a nurse. No, I am looking for blogs that have a connection to either the professional life, or health care in some fashion.

So stay tuned.

Arnold has a new foe–fellow actor Warren Beatty. Their acting roles followed a very different path, but still, Beatty is a voice from a group which I’m sure Arnold hoped would continue to back him. But it seems that even his fellow actors can’t stomach him. Afterall, he has launched an all out attack on unions, so it’s just a matter of time before SAG (screen actors guild) gets smacked by Arnie.

Actor Warren Beatty, met with thunderous applause and chants of “run, Warren, run” by a crowd of California nurses, vowed Thursday he’ll continue to criticize Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Republican governor’s “insulting and bullying” attacks against the state’s nurses, teachers and firefighters.

Let’s hear it for Warren Beatty. So what if he broke a few hearts? He’s a fine actor and it seems a fine human being for using his clout to stand up to the governator.

SFGate.com

The Medscape Nurses Blogis still posting personal stories about Katrina and its aftermath, and was gearing up for Rita. Fortunately, there is not much to report. There was far better attention paid to patients in hospitals and nursing homes this time around, and the storm was less catastrophic. So while I’m sure that healthcare workers in the area have encountered stories of despair, heroism, incompetence, and so on, it is not anywhere on the scale of Katrina.

But do check it out, if you haven’t already. The last post was a request from Medscape for healthcare workers to tell their stories about Rita. So far, no one has posted a story. I take that as good news. A blank space doesn’t make for dramatic reading, but hopefully, it means that the “hurricane drama” was kept to a minimum.

Perhaps I am being too hasty in my judgement of the new temporary boss of the FDA, the man selected to fill the stinky shoes of the dear, departed Lester Crawford, but the signs are ominous. First, he was chosen by Bush, so that alone puts on the red alert. Second, and most importantly, one has to wonder how committed this man is to being commissioner.

The man chosen to run the Food and Drug Administration said Saturday that he would keep his job as director of the National Cancer Institute while serving as interim chief of the drug agency.

In an interview, the official, Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, said he had a “100 percent commitment” to both jobs.

So Dr. von E thinks that he can be 100% committed to two, heavy duty full time jobs. How is that possible? Simple answer to that one–it’s not. In other words, Dr. von E is going to simply collect two salaries, which you and I are paying for with our taxes, and do a half-assed job at both places.

Neither of these positions can be done on a part time basis. They require the full attention of the person at the helm. And sorry to disappoint, Dr. von E, but you can’t do both. And Bush should have made it crystal clear–while you are temping at the FDA, you have to take a leave of absence from the NCI, without your paycheck.

Now, another minor teeny weeny issue. Conflict of interest. Oops, we forgot to notice that when appointing the good doc to this job. Yes, Virginia, there is a major conflict of interest here, because the NCI serves as a sponsor of many applications seeking permission from the F.D.A. to test cancer drugs in humans.

Moreover, a nationwide network of researchers created by the institute generates some of the data included in drug companies’ applications to sell cancer drugs.

In the interview, Dr. von Eschenbach said he would strike “an appropriate balance” in evaluating the risks and benefits of drugs.

Dr. von E just seems to be an all around Wonderboy, doesn’t he. He can handle two heavy duty full time positions as the head of two large institutes, and balance an obvious conflict of interest. He is just too cool for words. Maybe he’s really the $6 million man in disguise.

And one final note–I think Dr. von E’s brain has been abducted by aliens. The good doctor has declared a goal of “eliminating suffering and death due to cancer by 2015.” This statement has a lot of other cancer experts getting worried about the mental stability of their leader. Richard Nixon also declared “War on Cancer” around 1970, and the only victory claimed so far are a few minor battles. Cancer is alive, well and thriving 35 years later. And Dr. von E expects victory in 10 years.

His rationale is that prevention, early detection and new drugs, while not curing cancer, would make it more of a chronic disease. However, in order to make any inroads into preventing cancer, one would have to start taking action, like prohibiting carcinogens in food, force better protection of workers who are employed in areas where they are exposed to carcinogens, force factories to cut down on toxic emissions (Bush is currently doing the opposite), strengthen laws on polluting air and water (again, Bush is working hard to weaken laws), and so on. All of this involves trampling the feet of very powerful industries, which is why it hasn’t happened thus far.

So how does Dr. von E propose to prevent cancer, without taking any action? Stay tuned…although I have a feeling that the emphasis will be on new diagnostics, which only tell you that you have the disease and don’t prevent it, and new drugs for treatment. Preventing illness in the first place has always taken a back seat in our health care system.

But overall, I find this appointment an absolute disgrace. Even for Bush, it is shocking.

NY Times

I know that I didn’t want to dwell on Dickie’s hospitalization, but I was trying to imagine him as a hospital patient. Imagine being Dick Cheney’s nurse, and having to lift him on and off the bedpan. The great Dick Cheney, now lying in bed in a backless hospital gown, unable to walk due to his surgery, and at the complete mercy of doctors and nurses.

Yes, I know, he’s also surrounded by Secret Service, who are there to make sure that no one over does the morphine, or puts a pillow over his face while he’s in a haze from pain killers. But I was just thinking about how vulnerable he is now, and not the hotshot strutting around and commanding and demanding.

Imagine having to look at Cheney naked? Imagine being his nurse and having to wipe his ass? You look down at him and think, this is the vice president (or co-president as he’s come to be known). The man responsible (co-responsible) for embroiling us in a devastating war in Iraq, for the murder of nearly 2,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqis, and indeed, the list of Cheney’s crimes against humanity just go on and on. Here is the man who couldn’t interrupt his vacation in Wyoming for a national disaster.

So if you’re a good nurse, you’ll have some compassion for this poor little man with aneurysms in both legs, a man who has suffered four heart attacks, and now has undergone surgery to keep his blood circulating. And if you’re not of the Florence Nightingale mold, you’ll hand the toilet paper to the Secret Service agent and tell him, “You wipe. If you’ll take a bullit for this fool, surely then, you can wipe his ass.”

I think it’s time for me to go to bed.

Vice president Dickie Cheney had surgery on his knees to repair an aneurysm.

Ask me if I care?

No, I don’t. Cheney didn’t think that people suffering and dying during hurricane Katrina were worthy of him cutting short his vacation. So why should anyone give a damn that he’s in the hospital, except if they want to send him wilted flowers, or some rotten moldy cheese basket. He’s just counting how much money Halliburton will make if they get a contract to rebuild the damaged areas of the Gulf. That’s Dickie’s level of compassion.

And isn’t it strange how he conveniently decided to have his surgery just as Rita made aim for yet another strip of coast? The surgery wasn’t an emergency, his doctors discovered it back in July.

Anyway, I don’t want to waste any more space on Dick Cheney. I think the surgery is over, was successful, and he’ll be back to his cheery self in no time at all. Now if he was resigning as vice president, or decided to voluntarily imprison himself inside of his house and never be heard from again, now that would be worthy news.

Hurricane Rita pummeled east Texas and the Louisiana coast Saturday, battering communities with floods and intense winds. But residents were relieved the once-dreaded storm proved far less fierce and deadly than Katrina.

Texas has good karma. They were spared what could have been a disastrous blow to their low lying coast, and a nightmarish environmental disaster had the refineries been heavily damaged. But Rita weakened significantly, and while there’s the usual flooding, power outages, trees blown over, mobile homes gone bye-bye–it is nothing compared to what was feared. And I know, a lot of people are probably grumbling and saying, “Why the hell did I bother evacuating?”

Better safe than sorry. And a little inconvenience is better off than ending up dead, or stuck on a rooftop for 18 hours as the water is rising around you.

There are a lot of news stories about Rita from all angles. The quote I have at the beginning of this post is from ABC.com

Newsweek has a really good article about the 1900 hurricane which devastated Galveston, and what the residents may expect this time around–if Rita makes a direct hit. There are also photos of the devastation caused by the hurricane which struck the city on Sept 8, 1900, and it really looks similar to pictures of Hiroshima.

While Galveston never returned to its former glory, and there were many reasons for that, the city did rebuild and made an effort to make it a safer place to live–like building a 17 foot high seawall and raising up the city’s elevation.

At any rate, it is now countdown to Rita. So far, she’s weakened to a category 3. Still powerful and capable of doing considerable damage, but still, a 3 is a lot better than a 5.

Well well well. More good news over the transom. Lester Lying Fool Crawford has resigned as FDA Commissioner. Like a true fool, he claims that it is because of his age.

Embattled Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford resigned Friday, telling his staff that at age 67 it was time to step aside.

How convenient. He’s blaming his incompetence and inability to run the FDA as a science based government agency on his age. Is this man the ultimate of pathetic or what?

He also conveniently omitted mentioning that his tenure as commissioner was one of the lowest points in FDA history. His finest hour was backing down on his promise to reach a decision on the morning after pill, knowing that his confirmation depended on that promise.

Crawford’s three-year tenure at FDA was marked by increasing criticism, as the painkiller Vioxx was pulled off the market for safety problems, recalls of malfunctioning heart devices mounted and controversy grew over wider access to emergency contraception.

His resignation came just two months after the Senate, in a long-delayed move, elevated the longtime agency deputy and acting commissioner to the top job.

Last month, morale at the agency plummeted when Crawford indefinitely postponed nonprescription sales of morning-after contraception over the objections of staff scientists who had declared the pill safe. The FDA’s women’s health chief resigned.

I have no idea who is going to take his place, and it could be someone worse. But Crawford’s resignation is most welcome, and a celebration bash is in order. Getting rid of this dork is a major step forward for the FDA.

Seattle Times