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In a New York courtroom late last month, the chief of the new drugs division of the FDA and a long-time government employee, Steve Galson, reportedly testified in a deposition that he and Janet Woodcock, another long-time federal employee, were cut out of the picture by acting commissioner Lester Crawford when the administration overrode an outside advisory committee and vetoed Plan B, the morning-after birth control pill. Why did Crawford do that? One thing we know about him is that he is under investigation for financial improprieties allegedly involving selling stock in a firm regulated by the FDA while he ran the agency.

Heretofore, the administration's ignoring the science supporting Plan B has been tied to pressure from the religious right. Yet we know Exxon Mobil and its ilk are behind the attack on global warming science. Is there a financial angle to the Plan B as well? That court suit, brought by the liberal Center for Reproductive Rights, merits watching.

Merrill Goozner