Health group opposes Bush surgeon general pick (Reuters)

Health group opposes Bush surgeon general pick
Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:27PM EDT

By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading public health group opposed
President George W. Bush's surgeon general nominee on Wednesday,
a day before Dr. James Holsinger, already under fire by Democrats
and gay rights groups, faces a tough Senate confirmation hearing.

The American Public Health Association, founded in 1872 and made
up of 50,000 U.S. public health professionals, said it is "very
concerned with Dr. Holsinger's past writings regarding his views of
homosexuality, which put his political and religious ideology before
established medical science."

It was the second time ever, and the first in 26 years, that the
group has opposed a U.S. surgeon general nominee.

Meanwhile, two Democratic congressional committee chairmen,
Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and California Rep. Henry
Waxman, wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael
Leavitt demanding documents relating to Dr. Richard Carmona's
four-year tenure as surgeon general, which ended last year.

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