ConspirECy

Knight Ridder newspapers report on recently released documents that indicate that politics, not science, caused the FDA rejected the over-the-counter application of Plan B emergency contraception. Every medical and scientific evaluation favored the proposal. But according to an FDA document released through (the great) Congressman Henry Waxman's office, the prime mover in this conspiracy was Mark McClennan, Commissioner of the FDA. Knight Ridder reports that the denial "was engineered by FDA senior officials who worked behind the scenes against the company while appearing to remain neutral. After mid-level FDA officials made their recommendation to approve Plan B sales without prescriptions, their superiors told them that FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan and other senior managers at the agency "cannot support the non-prescription switch of Plan B," according to the agency's records." McClennan, of course, was hand-picked by President Bush and happens to be the brother of Bush's chief spokesman, Scott McClennan.