Waste at the CDC




By The Times-Union


Medical care is a matter of life and death. Literally. That's why it is so troubling when limited resources, that could be used to heal people, are squandered.


Like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention apparently has been doing.

A $1 billion building project at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, USA Today quotes Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., as saying, includes:

- A $100 million communications center with an $18 million video production studio and a massive wall of plasma screens for the viewing pleasure of visitors.

- $10 million worth of furniture in a single building.

- "Quiet rooms where workers can relax in zero-gravity chairs while watching ... pastel-colored lights."

Those are nice perks.

But it's been 36 years since Richard Nixon declared war on cancer - and, still, someone is diagnosed with it every 30 seconds in this country, says the National Cancer Institute.

Heart disease, AIDS, diabetes. You name it.

There are 15 new cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -"Lou Gehrig's disease" - a day, the ALS Association says. That's a slow, terrible way to die.

Alzheimer's? About 180 Americans die of it every day, the National Center for Health Statistics reports.

Surely, the CDC could put its federal funding to better use. If not, maybe a portion should be diverted to some organization that can.

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