EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

DATE: 9 a.m. Friday, April 17, 2015

EVENT: Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as U.S. surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, will address “Politics and the Future of Public Health.”

PLACE: Room 1690, SPH I, School of Public Health, 1415 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor

INFORMATION: Throughout his career, Carmona has been a strong supporter of public health and an outspoken critic of political interference with the Office of the Surgeon General. He was the first surgeon general to say that secondhand smoke is dangerous at any level, called obesity a national security issue, and criticized the administration that appointed him for suppressing scientific findings.

He is now vice chairman of Canyon Ranch, a nonprofit health spa resort with locations in Arizona and Massachusetts. He also serves as president of the Canyon Ranch Institute’s board of directors and is a professor at the University of Arizona and Ohio State University.

In June 2006, Carmona issued a report saying there is no safe level of secondhand smoke and called for bans on indoor smoking.

“The scientific evidence is now indisputable: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults,” he wrote in the report.

In 2003, Carmona called obesity an epidemic and a half dozen years later said the disease not only threatens the health of Americans but also keeps men and women from active military duty. It impacts the nation’s ability to be prepared for man-made and natural disasters, he said.

After leaving his post in 2006, he accused the Bush Administration of preventing him from speaking out and presenting scientific evidence on issues that were contrary to the White House’s political and ideological positions. This included issues regarding embryonic stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and global climate change.

SPONSOR: U-M School of Public Health