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Damning:
At yesterday's hearing, former FDA officials blamed the agency's
middle and upper management for its unwillingness to change. Benjamin
England, a former regulatory counsel and 17-year veteran at the FDA,
said the agency failed to act on more than 100 proposals for change,
and he described the current food-import system as outdated, inadequate
and wasteful.
See full article from the WSJ. (Read more).
FDA Is Expected to Seek More Food-Safety Powers Plan Would Include A Proactive Approach, Faster Response System
By JANE ZHANG
September 26, 2007; Page D12
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration, following a
series of recent food scares, for the first time in years will likely
seek additional powers to police food safety.
Assistant FDA Commissioner David Acheson told a House subcommittee that
his agency lacks the needed authority now and may request such power in
a new food-safety proposal. An FDA spokesman declined to elaborate what
the new authorities will be, but says the plan will be announced in
four to six weeks.
In his testimony, Dr. Acheson, the FDA's point man to draft the plan,
said it will include three pieces: a proactive approach to prevent
contamination, a risk-based inspection system to focus on troublesome
products and a faster response system to contamination. The plan, if
enacted, would reflect a strategic shift inside the agency away from
the FDA's traditional method of reacting to crises.
The announcement came as Democrats on Capitol Hill are becoming
increasingly impatient for what they perceive to be the Bush
administration's lack of action to overhaul the nation's food-safety
system. Already, the agency has been struggling to deal with a slew of
food scares in the past year, involving products ranging from bagged
spinach and peanut butter to contaminated wheat flour from China.
"Food safety at FDA is a stepchild," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the
Connecticut Democrat who is chairwoman of the House Agriculture
Appropriations Subcommittee. While FDA officials said they are limited
by the resources they have, Ms. DeLauro said the FDA hasn't made good
use of the money in the past and she isn't willing to "appropriate
further money into a black hole."
The Democratic majority has proposed to fix the system, instead,
through overhauls such as establishing a single-food agency, giving the
FDA new recall authority and allowing the agency to charge importers
user fees to fund food inspection. A House Energy and Commerce
subcommittee will hold a hearing on the user-fee legislation today.
At yesterday's hearing, former FDA officials blamed the agency's middle
and upper management for its unwillingness to change. Benjamin England,
a former regulatory counsel and 17-year veteran at the FDA, said the
agency failed to act on more than 100 proposals for change, and he
described the current food-import system as outdated, inadequate and
wasteful.
"Given these circumstances, increasing funding to support the FDA's
current import paradigm without requiring significant change in its
approach would produce far too much additional waste, result in even
more shipping delays for compliant and safe import shipments," said Mr.
England, a lawyer at Jones Walker in Washington.
There are signs of a shift. While the FDA's parent agency, Department
of Health and Human Services, rebuked the agency's proposal to regulate
produce this year, the HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt now heads the White
House's panel on imports. His recent proposal to overhaul the import
system is similar in many respects to Dr. Acheson's food-safety plan.
The food industry also came out to support such a risk-based,
preventive approach.
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