Atlanta’s Sanjay Gupta to be tapped as two-star head of PHS?

by Pete Randall on January 7, 2009

It’s beginning to look more and more like the Admiral in charge of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service will be Atlanta’s own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Gupta is an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Emory University School of Medicine and serves as a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital. He is also associate chief of neurosurgery at Grady. (And, yes, he does that stuff for CNN, too).

{ 13 comments }

Bill Simon January 7, 2009 at 12:48 pm

Congrats, Rogue, to spelling “two” right. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong “two.” :-o )

Rogue109 January 7, 2009 at 1:55 pm

Son of a Dem! That’s what I get for not proofreading before posting. I’m in court for the rest of the day and can’t get “two” fix it. Shucks!

rugby fan January 7, 2009 at 2:03 pm

“I’m in court for the rest of the day”

What are you on trial for?

slyram January 7, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Gupta is the man.

Also,
http://projectlogicga.wordpress.com/2009/01/05/visack-to-commerce-bishop-to-agplease/

Update: Evidently I am not the only one thinking about Vilsack for Commerce. Can the southern agriculture community get on the ball so we can get Georgian Sanford Bishop as head of the USDA.

http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2009/01/vilsacks-confirmation-hearing-set-but.html

Obama Foodorama: Vilsack’s Confirmation Hearing Set–But is it For Secretary of Agriculture, or Secretary of Commerce?

Daniel N. Adams January 7, 2009 at 4:34 pm

Vilsack’s Confirmation Hearing Set–But is it For Secretary of Agriculture, or Secretary of Commerce?

Does it matter? No one knows what they do anyway (other than cause things to be more expensive).

jenny January 8, 2009 at 12:43 pm

Currently Tom Vilsack serves as a distinguished fello at Iowa State University’s Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products, where he sits on the advisory board with representatives of Monsanto, Dupoint’s Pioneer Hi-Bred, and the World Bank.

In 1995 as an Iowa State Senator he aided the passege of House File 519- this legislation removed authority from counties to impose restrictions on CAFO’s. In 2005, Governor Vilsack signed House File 642-barred local governments from regulating the planting of genetically modified seed.

Tom Vilsack was Biotechnology Industry Organization’s 2001 “Governor of the Year.”

Yes, please. I would prefer Sanford Bishop.

Bill Simon January 8, 2009 at 4:29 pm

Jenny,

You REALLY have a buzz on this Monsanto stuff.

Would you rather have more dangerous herbicides and insecticides dumped on live crops to allow them to survive? Because, it is the genetically-modified seeds that have been engineered to be more resistant to bugs and weeds.

jenny January 8, 2009 at 5:11 pm

The manner in which the seed is modified is done thus:

First a gene is pulled from some living organism whether an insect, fish, plant, animal, etc., because it has qualities that the bioengineer wants to add to the “natural” product. This gene is than coated with a promoter so that once it adheres to the DNA within the molecular structure of the cells, it will kick into high gear of production.

Within the DNA of an organism, the infrastructure is such that merely blasting a foreign gene into the makeup won’t do much. The gene would remain dormant. The promoter is sometimes a virus.

The gene and promoter are than blasted into a block of cells in the hopes that they will stick to one of the cells’ DNA structure. The promoter is capable of switching on dormant viruses in the DNA, overproducing allergens, toxins or carcinogens, and promoting genetic mutation.

And all of that leads to serious health problems in the consumer. Not to mention the pollen from genetically modified crops can infect local agriculture and mutate the other crops.

Furthermore, although the seeds are engineered to contain insecticides, they must be planted in conjunction with Monsanto’s Roundup which is proving to be highly toxic to the soil and to the consumer.

I’ll stop there, though I could go on for hours.

John Konop January 8, 2009 at 7:15 pm

No love for Sanjay Gupta from Dems?

Conyers: Obama Should Not Nominate Sanjay Gupta

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/08/conyers-to-obama-do-not-n_n_156298.html

Bill Simon January 8, 2009 at 8:47 pm

What, he’s not “black” enough for Conyers? Or, is it not the “right” type of blackness for John Conyers?

Rogue109 January 8, 2009 at 9:09 pm

Nah, it’s because he is not qualified to lead the Public Health Service.

rugby fan January 8, 2009 at 9:21 pm

I’m just curios, what do you think are the necessary credentials or qualifications to be Surgeon General?

odinseye2k January 8, 2009 at 9:29 pm

It’s probably due to his pharmaceutical company connections and skepticism about how fully he’ll support whatever health care reform the Obama administration puts forward.

Conyers is the sponsor of HR 676, after all.

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