Dr. Howard’s House of Horrors #2: Under Our Current Medical Establishment Scientists and Federal Employees Need “Anonymity For Fear Of Retaliation.”
Dr. Howard highlights the culture of fear inside public health agencies under the Trump administration.
Here are three recent articles about the chaos and dysfunction in our federal health agencies:
Vinay Prasad Named Chief Medical And Science Officer At FDA:
Multiple agency employees, who requested anonymity to protect against retaliation, told STAT that Prasad seemed uninterested in the administrative work of being a center director.
Terminated NIH Grants Are Being Reinstated Almost Entirely In Blue States:
Even after the decision, many researchers in those states do not feel comfortable discussing the issue. STAT reached out to dozens of researchers who have had grants terminated in red states, and several said they had been advised not to speak to reporters.
RFK Jr. Says Deep State ‘Is Real,’ Called FDA Employees ‘Sock Puppet’ Of Industry:
The remark jolted several FDA employees in the audience, who misheard the reference and thought he was making a derogatory remark about people with intellectual disabilities, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation. By the end of the event, billed as a welcome from the new commissioner, Marty Makary, several FDA staffers had walked out of the rooms where the speech was being broadcast at the agency’s headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, according to two employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Our medical establishment rose to power performatively decrying “cancel culture” and “censorship” because they lost a YouTube video or a Tweet. They promised this wouldn’t happen under their watch. During his confirmation testimony, for example, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said:
I will establish a culture of respect for free speech in science and scientific dissent at the NIH. Over the last few years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of coverup, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs. Dissent is the very essence of science. I will foster a culture where NIH leadership will actively encourage different perspectives and create an environment where scientists – including early career scientists – can express disagreement respectfully.
Now that they are in charge, the headlines read More Than 70 Nutrition Scientists Call for Freedom From Censorship at NIH, NIH Staff Lambaste Agency Head for Censorship of Science, Leading Nutrition Scientist Departs N.I.H., Citing Censorship, and NIH Employees Call for Academic Freedom and Scientific Excellence in the Bethesda Declaration. Every article about their incompetence contains quotations from “employees granted anonymity for fear of retaliation.” It turns out Dr. Bhattacharya was giving a preview of coming attractions when he said:
