It’s not bad enough that the professional heart of CDC is heading for the exits as fast as they can get there in response to the high handed, abrasive and incompetent management of its Director, Dr. Julie Gerberding. Not bad enough at all. Dr. Gerberding now is getting rid of good people who haven’t voluntarily jumped ship. Celeste Montforton at the public health blog, The Pump Handle, where we sometimes post and which is one of the mainstays of the public health blogosphere, brings us news that Dr. John Howard, Director for the last six years of the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) is being let go by the Bush administration, using their lap dog, Dr. Gerberding to do the deed. We haven’t mentioned Dr. Howard much here because, unlike other Bush appointees, he has been doing his job so he’s not the source of high profile screw-ups like his colleagues. Who thinks he’s been doing his job? Pretty much everyone: the American Society of Safety Engineers, the US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, as well as professionals in occupational health and safety. One of the jobs Dr. Howard has been doing is coordinating the ground zero health study. Maybe that’s the source of the problem:

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