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1993.07.07 :  Joycelyn Elders' Nomination

Contact:  Avis LaVelle (202) 690-7850
July 7, 1993

       HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today issued the following
statement regarding the President's nomination of Dr. Joycelyn
Elders to be Surgeon General:

       "Joycelyn Elders has an outstanding reputation as a forceful
and realistic leader for public health.  She is admired nationally,
among her peers, as evidenced by her election to the presidency of
the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers;  and she
is highly regarded among those who have worked most closely with her
in her home state of Arkansas.

       "Those who would portray Dr. Elders as being radical or out
of touch with the desires of the American people are distorting her
record in an effort to prove their claims.  Dr. Elders supports
health services for children through school-based clinics, but that
does not mean she supports mandatory distribution of condoms in
school-based clinics.  As in her experience in her home state, she
supports local decision-making on that question.  Likewise, Dr.
Elders supports comprehensive health training for our nation's
children, but that does not mean inappropriate sex education topics
for young children, as her critics suggest."