Politics should never trump public interest — particularly in matters of public health and safety.

Unfortunately, that's precisely the case, according to former Surgeon General Richard Carmona and some of his predecessors.

In chilling testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Carmona described how the White House tried to suppress or water down vital public health information for political purposes.

Carmona said he was consistently ordered to follow political policies, rather than science. And in every speech that he gave he was ordered to mention President Bush three times on each page.

In his testimony Tuesday, Carmona also said that the Bush administration delayed for years a crucial report on the effects of secondhand smoke, and that senior administration officials even discouraged him from attending the Special Olympics because of the organization's ties to the Kennedy family.

Carmona, appointed by Bush in 2002 to a four-year term, was not asked by the White House to return.

As political appointees, some political pressure here is not new. Indeed, Surgeons General C. Everett Koop, who served under President Ronald Reagan, and David Satcher, who served under both presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, also testified about the pressures tied to the job.

But the degree of interference noted by Carmona was nothing short of appalling.

As the nation's leading spokesman on public health, it's absolutely critical that science and sound medicine — not politics — dictate the surgeon general's role.

As the Senate begins confirmation hearings this week on Carmona's successor, Dr. James W. Holsinger, addressing this issue is key.

Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman rightly describes the surgeon general's office as one "in crisis."

Armed with this information, it's now up to Congress to do whatever it takes to ensure public health and safety are not held hostage by political pressure.