By Charles Ortleb
Julie Gerberding, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, really should have a little message delivered to her that she can thoroughly understand. She doesn't have much wiggle room where the cause of SARS is concerned. The apocalpytic nature of this pandemic demands that she get it right, and if evidence is not conclusive, she'd better be funding and encouraging alternative research into the cause of SARS. Anyone who knows the history of the CDC on the issues of AIDS and CFIDS knows how arrogant and incompetent this world famous organization can be. If the same incompetence and arrogance are operative on the SARS front, millions will lose their lives and the world could plunge into a chaos of our worst nightmares. Medical organizations in other countries bow down to the CDC at their own peril.
Congress should call Gerberding in and they should also extend an invitation to Frank Plummer, the Canadian scientist who argues that the data does not support Gerberding's not-so-tentative conclusion that the SARS-associated coronavirus is the cause of SARS. Congress should listen closely to Frank Plummer to see if his arguments have merit. They should also basically put Gerberding on notice that she must encourage a vigorous debate about the cause of SARS. They should make sure she is funding research into alternative theories of SARS causation. If it turns out that she is wrong and that the CDC was not listening to its critics, Gerberding and her colleagues should pay for their mistakes with their jobs.
Charles Ortleb is the author of The Closing Argument and the co-author of The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Follies.
Hmmm ...
I say they should pay with their lives