Sen. Specter Says FDA Can’t Even Ask for Money Properly
Posted by Theo Francis
June 11, 2008, 3:00 pm
Now that the FDA has gotten around to asking for $275 million more from Congress for inspections, the agency got another tongue-lashing from frequent critic Sen. Arlen Specter, who chastised HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt for compounding months of foot-dragging with a dollop of spin.
If you’re just tuning in, Democrats and some Republicans have been slamming the FDA for failing to adequately police the U.S. food and drug supplies — think tainted heparin, implicated in the deaths of more than 80 people, and salmonella, which most recently is spreading on tomatoes.
Wouldn’t a little more money help the FDA cause, the folks on Capitol Hill kept asking? At hearings in May, FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach wouldn’t directly acknowledge that the agency could use more cash than President Bush requested — apparently hindered by an Administration rule forbidding public disagreement with his budget; a subsequent letter danced around the issue.
So, the HHS and FDA have asked for the cash. But the way they did it would put FDA on tap to receive the emergency funds in March or April of next year. Specter (R-Penn.) wants it done a lot sooner, WSJ.com reports. “The grave problem with that is that the FDA has become a joke,” Specter told a Judiciary Committee hearing today.
Then there’s the way the FDA has presented its about-face. Lately, von Eschenbach and Leavitt have sounded like they’re the ones champing at the bit for more money while Congress dilly-dallies. “I would like to once again strongly urge Congress to act quickly to enhance the safety of food and medical products,” Leavitt told reporters in a conference call Monday night.
That really set off Specter, who wrote by hand at the bottom of a letter to Levitt: “I am really surprised by your comment quoted in The NY Times today urging Congress to act quickly when the Administration is drastically hindering NECESSARY immediate relief by delaying the funding for 8 or 9 months. The FDA NEEDS this money now to save lives.” (You can read the letter by clicking on the PDF icon next.)
s.wsj.net
Permalink | Trackback URL: blogs.wsj.com |
