The administration, Carmona said Tuesday, would not allow him to speak or issue reports on the subjects of stem cells, emergency contraception, sex education or prison, mental or global health issues. Top officials tried to "water down" a landmark report on secondhand smoke and delayed it for years, he said. Released last year, the report concluded that even brief exposure to cigarette smoke can cause immediate harm.

Carmona said he was ordered to mention President George W. Bush three times on every page of his speeches. He also said he was asked to make speeches to support Republican political candidates and to attend political briefings.

Administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because, he said, of that charitable organization's longtime ties to a "prominent family" that he declined to name. "I was specifically told by a senior person, 'Why would you want to help those people?' " Carmona said.

The Special Olympics is one of the nation's premier charitable organizations to benefit disabled people, and the Kennedy family has long been deeply involved in it. When asked after the hearing whether that "prominent family" was the Kennedys, Carmona responded, "You said it. I didn't."

Polls consistently show that a majority of Americans want federal funding for stem cell research and they want it now, not later. But President Bush appears determined to make sure that America falls behind the rest of the world in scientific advances. Japan, for one, is already way ahead of us on this issue which could potentially provide a cure for diabetes, some cancers, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.