At Least Fifteen TWO Reasons to Temper Enthusiasm for Gupta -- the Current Obama Choice for US Surgeon General

ERRATA: GoozNews has realized that there are at least two Sanjay Guptas. Oops. I've revised mine. My most sincere apologies -- to the potential nominee. However, consider these tidbits, courtesy of Gooz (below). . . .

As GoozNews has ably pointed out, right here, this morning, Dr. Gupta is fetchingly telegenic, and a great communicator -- but as a supposed-television (CNN) journalist (and certainly as the would-be United States Surgeon General), these ties are troubling -- here are fifteen of his most recently-disclosed financial backers some pull-quotes, per Mr. Goozner's REVISED posting (see page XXV of that PDF-file link):

. . . .check out this Health News blog item by Gary Schwitzer, a journalism professor at the University of Minnesota, last November 20. It discusses a new show launched by CNN for broadcast in hospital and physician waiting rooms:

A powerful contemporary example of entanglement involves a television network called Accent Health (whose logo includes the words "Your target is waiting"), said to be watched monthly by more than 10 million viewers in US medical waiting rooms. The network, which is produced by CNN, overtly offers sponsors, including drug companies, the chance to boost sales of their products, by, for example, putting "your brand in front of the valuable Baby Boomer population just before they discuss their health conditions with their doctor." One of the hosts is Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and host of at least one other CNN health programme that is funded partly through drug company advertising. . . .

Sanjay Gupta, M.D.: Abbott Laboratories, Inc., AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Forest Laboratories, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson and Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Memory Pharmaceuticals, Myriad Genetics, Inc., Neurochem, Inc., Ono Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Pfizer Inc., Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Somaxon Pharmaceuticals. . . .

Nope -- Schering-Plough is not among them -- nor is Merck & Co. But As Merrill more cogently points out, this sort of inter-tangling will make for rather tough-sledding at his confirmation hearing before the Senate.