According to the article:
If only there was someone around who could educate the American public about the actual level of risk.
Someone who was trusted as a public health expert and whose job it was to help us understand what we really
need to worry about and what precautions we should take.
Actually, that is one of the primary responsibilities of the United States surgeon general.
If I recall, Joycelyn Elders was nuttier than a fruit cake!!
-- Elders drew fire - and censure from the Clinton administration - when she suggested that legalizing drugs might help reduce crime
and that the idea should be studied. On December 15, 1993, around one week after making these comments, charges were filed
against her son Kevin, for selling cocaine in an incident involving undercover officers, four months prior. Elders believes the incident
was a frame-up and the timing of the charges was designed to embarrass her and the president.
-- In 1994, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote
masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, "I think that it is
part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." This remark caused great controversy and resulted in Elders losing the support
of the White House. White House chief of staff Leon Panetta remarked, "There have been too many areas where the President does not
agree with her views. This is just one too many."
-- Elders was fired by President Clinton in December 1994.
So, just because the position is filled does not mean the Surgeon General would tell us anything different than the CDC is already telling us.
What a stupid article!!