William Raymond Steiger was Special Assistant to the Secretary for International Affairs and the Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) during the George W. Bush Administration

George W. Bush administration

The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...

, with a portfolio that included HIV/AIDS, malaria, avian flu and pandemic-influenza preparedness. During his tenure in the Bush Administration, Steiger was involved in several controversies surrounding the politicization of science

Politicization of science

The politicization of science is the manipulation of science for political gain. It occurs when government, business, or advocacy groups use legal or economic pressure to influence the findings of scientific research or the way it is disseminated, reported or interpreted. The politicization of...

.

Early life and education

Steiger is the son of the late Congressman William A. Steiger

William A. Steiger

William Albert "Bill" Steiger was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1967 until his death in 1978. He served as a Republican from Wisconsin.-Early life:Steiger was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin...

 (a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 who represented the 6th District of Wisconsin) and the late Janet Dempsey Steiger

Janet Dempsey Steiger

Janet Steiger was an American politician. She graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. On August 10, 1963, she married William A. Steiger, who was elected to the United States House of Representatives. They had one son, William R...

, former Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the godson of former President George H.W. Bush. Steiger graduated cum laude in 1987 from the college preparatory St. Albans School for Boys

St. Albans School (Washington, D.C.)

St. Albans School is an independent college preparatory school for boys in grades 4–12, located in Washington, D.C. The school is named after Saint Alban, traditionally regarded as the first British martyr. Within the St...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 He graduated from Yale College

Yale College

Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...

 summa cum laude with a degree in History in 1991. He earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Latin American History at the University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, Los Angeles

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

. In 1995-96, Steiger was a Luce Scholar in the Philippines; he taught Latin American History at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, and the Ateneo de Manila University.

Bush Administration tenure

Steiger's role in the Bush Administration was the subject of controversy. He was charged with implementing a Bush Administration policy declaring that U.S. government scientists and public-health experts must "serve as representatives of the U.S. government at all times and advocate U.S. government policies." The policy required that U.S. government scientists be cleared by a political appointee before accepting invitations to World Health Organization

World Health Organization

The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...

 (WHO) meetings. The policy was criticized in the scientific community as an effort to politicize science, while the Bush Administration defended its policy by arguing that HHS was in a better position that WHO to know which scientists to send to meetings.

Steiger was involved in several other scientific-political controversies during the Bush Administration. In 2004, on behalf of the Administration, he attacked a WHO plan to combat obesity, arguing that the link between the marketing of high-fat foods and obesity was unproven, as was the role of vegetables and fruit in a healthy diet. Steiger's letter echoed complaints about the report from the U.S. sugar and food lobbies.

Steiger was also identified in a Washington Post story by several public health officials as responsible for blocking the publication of U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona

Richard Carmona

Richard Henry Carmona is an American physician, public health administrator, and politician. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the seventeenth Surgeon General of the United States. Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2002, Carmona left office...

's report on global health problems, allegedly because the report failed to advance the Bush Administration's political agenda. Steiger, who according to the Post lacked "any background or expertise in medicine or public health", attributed the rejection of the report to "sloppy work, poor analysis, and lack of scientific rigor" on the part of the Surgeon General's office.

External links

• Steiger's official biography
• Call to Action on Global Health, unpublished draft report of Surgeon General Richard Carmona.