FYI- you may be interested in responding to this Wall Street Journal
editorial described below.

karyn

Karyn L. Pomerantz
Himmelfarb Library, GWUMC
2300 I St., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202/994-2976
[log in to unmask]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 18:15:48 -0500 (EST)
From: Nancy Krieger <[log in to unmask]>
To:     Spirit of 1848 bulletin board & friends
RE:     Op-ed piece in Wall Street Journal (12/12/96) on
          "The Politicization of Public Health" by Dr Sally Satel


Barry Levy, the incoming president of APHA, called today to alert me to
publication of an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal that argues
vehemently against the view that corporate power and discrimination
contribute to inequalities in health. Instead, what explains the poorer
health of the poor, according to this article, are the poor health
behaviors of the poor (!!)--and those of us who would politicize public
health are in fact a menace to the public's health. The culprits are
(quite the list): "scholarly journals that have taken to aggresive
self-promotion, reporters who lack the expertise to evaluate study's like
Dr. Krieger's before giving them a wide audience, and the Department of
Health and Human Services' strong emphasis on minority health". Blatant,
no?


Just to note the impact of our work in Spirit of 1848, the article
specifically goes after two sessions that we (Spirit of 1848) organized,
on "Measures of Social Class" and on "Curriculum on Social Inequalities in
Health", and by name seeks to discredit (in order mentioned): Paula
Braveman, Nancy Krieger, Camara Jones, and Sally Zierler (in these
sessions) and also John Sweeny (AFL-CIO) and Vincent Iacopino of UC
Berkeley.

Barry Levy said that APHA would be writing a response to the column. He
also encouraged individuals to write in as well. I strongly encourage you
to do so, and to spread the word! As Barry noted, this op-ed piece gives
us all an opportunity to put out our side, our understanding of profound
links between inequality and ill health, of how social justice is the
foundation of public health, and more. The point is not who,
individually, is singled out in the article but rather our larger
position and vision. That the Wall St Journal sees fit to publish a piece
like this says that we must be making some headway in getting heard--all
the more reason to send in those letters!

P.S. If you want to get a faxed copy of the op-ed piece, call Noreen
Loughran, an administrative assistant in HSB, at: 617-432-1135.