A Broken Trust? Congress Takes On The CDC
(CBS)
As part of its continuing investigation into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a major House subcommittee is now taking dead aim at whether “political pressure” caused the CDC to “scale down or cancel” beryllium testing in Elmore, Ohio, the subject of our exclusive investigation on the CBS Evening News.
In recent months the CDC has come under increasing pressure from agency insiders and other sources who question whether political or corporate pressure have resulted in “deficient, incomplete and/or muted reports, studies or Health Consultations.” Three cases stand out: what critics have called the CDC’s “indefensible handling” of the issue of formaldehyde in FEMA trailers; a study on toxic dumping sites in the Great Lakes region; and community testing for the toxic dust beryllium around Brush Wellman plant in Elmore.
In other words has a sacred trust between the nation’s top public health agency and the people it’s sworn to protect been broken?
