Appearing as a guest on the June 25 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News, right-wing pundit Ann Coulter claimed that universal health care would bring about the “end of innovation” in health care and falsely asserted that “all new medical innovations” and “all new drug products do come from the United States.” However, since May 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 22 applications for new drug products, at least nine of which were developed by companies headquartered outside the United States. In fact, four of the six new molecular entities (NMEs) approved by the FDA in 2007 were discovered by European-based companies. Moreover, cutting-edge research in stem cells and human genes is also taking place outside the United States.

Furthermore, Coulter was not challenged by KOA co-hosts Steffan Tubbs and April Zesbaugh when she asserted that there is what she characterized as a “divide on ... illegal immigration, where the elites and the government is pushing one policy and all of America believes in another policy.” As Colorado Media Matters has noted, a June 12 Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll found widespread public support for an immigration plan similar to the one proposed in the U.S. Senate.

Coulter's comments about health care followed filmmaker Michael Moore's June 24 appearance at a health care reform rally in Denver. Moore's documentary Sicko, which examines the U.S. health care system, opens June 29. After Coulter stated that “it's a little peculiar for someone who seems to be so interested in health care in America to be morbidly obese,” Zesbaugh asked Coulter if she would “tie universal health care” to “socialized health care.” Coulter responded, “Oh, yes -- well, that is ... clearly what the left wants,” adding, “And that would be the end of . . . innovation. I mean, all new drug products do come from the United States, which is unfortunate.” She continued by saying, “You know, we used to have lots of countries competing to come up with cures for cancer and diabetes. But now, because of an incentive structure that exists only in the United States and which liberals would like to remove from the United States, you have all new drugs, all new medical innovations, coming from one country, which then other countries can ... steal, can take and sell for less.”

However, contrary to Coulter's claim that “all new drug products . . . come from the United States,” the FDA in the past two months has approved at least nine original drug applications filed by companies based outside the United States. This year, the FDA has approved six new molecular entities, described by the FDA as “an active ingredient that has never been marketed in” the United States; two of them were developed by U.S. companies -- New River Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Additionally, Coulter's implication that no countries are competing with the United States “to come up with cures for cancer and diabetes” is equally false. In 2006, the American Cancer Society (ACS) cited the development of Gardasil as a major breakthrough in cancer research. According to the ACS, Gardasil, which was developed by the Australian company CSL Limited, is “the first vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer and other diseases caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV).”

A September 26, 2006, Time magazine article describing Europe as “an increasingly important base” for stem cell research reported that “scientists in Sweden are studying how stem cells might be used to treat Parkinson's disease” and that a “Belgian team is investigating whether they might be used to treat diabetes.” Time further reported that "[l]iberal laws and renewed funding, meanwhile, are pushing Europe toward the front of the field" of stem cell research.

Furthermore, on June 6, The Washington Post published an article reporting that researchers at the University of Oxford in England found new genetic links for seven diseases: “bipolar disorder, Crohn's disease, coronary heart disease, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes.” The article further reported:

Anne M. Bowcock, a professor of genetics at Washington University School of Medicine and author of an accompanying editorial inNature, said knowing the genetic components of common diseases will dramatically change the way medicine is practiced.

“This is a tour-de-force,” Bowcock said of the new research. “It's going to revolutionize medicine.”

Finally, contrary to Coulter's claim that “all of America” is against the current immigration reform legislation in the Senate, the Times/Bloomberg poll found widespread support for an immigration plan similar to the one proposed in the Senate, the current version of which is Senate Bill 1639. According to a June 13 Times article about the poll, “A strong majority of Americans -- including nearly two-thirds of Republicans -- favor allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements.” According to the article, “That is a striking show of support for a primary element of an immigration overhaul bill that has stalled in the Senate amid conservative opposition. Only 23% of adults surveyed opposed allowing undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.”

From the June 25 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News:

TUBBS: On the 850 KOA news line is author and commentator Ann Coulter. We've had her on before here on Colorado's Morning News. Ann, thanks for the time this morning.

COULTER: Any time.

TUBBS: You are out with, well, I guess it's on paperback. Godless is, is your book, and we'll talk about that in minute, but you just heard our reporter Dan Dillard talking about the man who was in town here last night.

MOORE [audio clip]: We're going to have universal health care in our lifetime in this country.

TUBBS: Michael Moore. I don't know if you would describe him as a documentarian. How would you describe Michael Moore?

COULTER: Well, you have -- you'd have a lot more food left behind if I'd been the one visiting.

ZESBAUGH [Laughs]: Now, you've got to have more problems with this man than just his weight.

COULTER: I do think that it's a little peculiar for someone who seems to be so interested in health care in America to be morbidly obese. I mean, it's just kind of an odd visual effect.

ZESBAUGH: Would you tie universal health care to, I guess, more like socialist nations would. Are we talking socialized health care?

COULTER: Oh, yes -- well, that is, that is clearly what the left wants. Yes. And that would be the end of, the end, end of innovation. I mean, all new drug products do come from the United States, which is unfortunate. You know, we used to have lots of countries competing to come up with cures for cancer and diabetes. But now, because of an incentive structure that exists only in the United States and which liberals would like to remove from the United States, you have all new drugs, all new medical innovations, coming from one country, which then other countries can, can steal, can take and sell for less. But it would be the end of innovation. It would be like all those you know, those famous quotes you read from people saying, you know, every, every -- in 1900, everything that is going to be invented has been invented. Well, no, actually we've had a lot of inventions since then.

[...]

ZESBAUGH: Let me ask you about this, because this is a, a book in which you say liberalism is a religion, a godless one, and is now entrenched as the state religion of this county -- of this country. And we just had a story about how we're actually giving more money than ever to our churches in this country. We gave more in 2006 than we did in 2005 after Katrina and after all these disasters.

COULTER: Yes.

ZESBAUGH: So, so --

COULTER: America's a very generous country. But those are individual Americans. And, yes, it's a very Christian country when you talk to in -- individual Americans. It's a little bit like the divide on, on illegal immigration, where the elites and the government is pushing one policy and all of America believes in another policy. And I'm, I'm -- I, I don't know if you saw this story over the weekend. They pop up a lot this time of year. Valedictorian at a public school in New Jersey was gi -- you know, preparing his valedictory address. And, of course, these have to be vetted by, by the school officials. And the first half of his speech was a tribute to the liberal religion. It was all about diversity and the importance of diversity, but he wanted to end his speech with a prayer. They said, “No, you cannot end your speech with a prayer.” He was a Christian. He said, “This is very important to me.” So his choice was to give his speech and drop the par -- prayer, or not give his speech. So he won't be giving his valedictory address. And that is, is, is the point. What, what is the government doing? Well, they're running around the country taking down Ten Commandments monuments and, and banishing valedictorians who, who want to mention Jesus.

TUBBS: Ann Coulter, we got to leave it at that. We appreciate your time this morning. The book is Godless; you've heard about it before. It is now out in paperback. You can pick that up, obviously, at local book stores or online.