From the office of the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
New Leaders at FDA Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson Dr. Margaret Hamburg has the experience and public-health focus that makes her a terrific choice for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. She has been forward thinking in her approach both to medical and food security issues—a quality that should enable her to return the FDA to its role as a trusted, effective regulatory agency. Dr. Joshua Sharfstein has not only the knowledge, but also the experience on Capitol Hill and as the health commissioner of a major city, to be an excellent deputy. His innovative public health leadership in Baltimore has had nationwide impact, such as when he challenged the prevailing wisdom on the use and labeling of cough syrup in infants. As health commissioner he helped phase artificial trans fat out of the city’s restaurant food—a job that the FDA should complete by getting rid of partially hydrogenated oil from the food supply altogether. While most past commissioners have focused primarily on the drug side of FDA, Drs. Hamburg and Sharfstein both are well aware the FDA also regulates foods. They will have additional resources and, I hope, new statutory authorities to improve on FDA’s dismal record in the area of food safety and nutrition. This new team should give fresh consideration of whether the agency itself needs to be restructured with the food regulatory functions being spun off as an independent agency.
DeLauro: Hamburg the right choice at critical time
From the office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn. -3), chairwoman of the Agriculture – Food and Drug Administration Appropriations Subcommittee, issued the following statement following President Barack Obama’s weekly radio address, in which he announced the appointments of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as Commissioner of the FDA, and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein as the Principal Deputy Commissioner, as well as the creation of a new Food Safety Working Group. This Food Safety Working Group will be chaired by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture and it will coordinate with other agencies and senior officials to advise the President on improving coordination throughout the government, examining and upgrading food safety laws, and enforcing laws that will keep the American people safe.
“Dr. Margaret Hamburg is the right choice at this critical time in food safety. I look forward to working closely with her and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. Both Dr. Hamburg and Dr. Sharfstein have worked ardently throughout their careers to prioritize public health and have fought to make Americans safer and more secure. Reforming the FDA will require someone with a passion for the public safety, strong leadership, strong management skills, and an intimate knowledge of the issues facing the agency.
“By creating the Food Safety Working Group, the President is demonstrating his commitment to taking the necessary steps toward reforming our food safety system. It is imperative that the Administration ensures that the working group is not merely a cosmetic bureaucratic endeavor. The working group must produce definitive recommendations that result in the modernization of our food safety regulatory structure and an integration of our food safety functions.”
From the White House, the transcript...Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, March 14, 2009 Washington, DC
I’ve often said that I don’t believe government has the answer to every problem or that it can do all things for all people. We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can’t do on our own. There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and don’t cause us harm. That is the mission of our Food and Drug Administration and it is a mission shared by our Department of Agriculture, and a variety of other agencies and offices at just about every level of government.
The men and women who inspect our foods and test the safety of our medicines are chemists and physicians, veterinarians and pharmacists. It is because of the work they do each and every day that the United States is one of the safest places in the world to buy groceries at a supermarket or pills at a drugstore. Unlike citizens of so many other countries, Americans can trust that there is a strong system in place to ensure that the medications we give our children will help them get better, not make them sick; and that a family dinner won’t end in a trip to the doctor’s office.
But in recent years, we’ve seen a number of problems with the food making its way to our kitchen tables. In 2006, it was contaminated spinach. In 2008, it was salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes. And just this year, bad peanut products led to hundreds of illnesses and cost nine people their lives – a painful reminder of how tragic the consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and government is unable to do its job. Worse, these incidents reflect a troubling trend that’s seen the average number of outbreaks from contaminated produce and other foods grow to nearly 350 a year – up from 100 a year in the early 1990s.
Part of the reason is that many of the laws and regulations governing food safety in America have not been updated since they were written in the time of Teddy Roosevelt. It’s also because our system of inspection and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it’s difficult for different parts of our government to share information, work together, and solve problems. And it’s also because the FDA has been underfunded and understaffed in recent years, leaving the agency with the resources to inspect just 7,000 of our 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses each year. That means roughly 95% of them go uninspected.
That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg, whom I am appointing today as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. From her research on infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health to her work on public health at the Department of Health and Human Services to her leadership on biodefense at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure. Dr. Hamburg was one of the youngest people ever elected to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. And her two children have a unique distinction of their own. Their birth certificates feature her name twice – once as their mother, and once as New York City Health Commissioner. In that role, Dr. Hamburg brought a new life to a demoralized agency, leading an internationally-recognized initiative that cut the tuberculosis rate by nearly half, and overseeing food safety in our nation’s largest city.
Joining her as Principal Deputy Commissioner will be Dr. Joshua Sharfstein. As Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Sharfstein has been recognized as a national leader for his efforts to protect children from unsafe over-the-counter cough and cold medications. And he’s designed an award-winning program to ensure that Americans with disabilities had access to prescription drugs.
Their critical work – and the critical work of the FDA they lead – will be part of a larger effort taken up by a new Food Safety Working Group I am creating. This Working Group will bring together cabinet secretaries and senior officials to advise me on how we can upgrade our food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will keep the American people safe, but enforcing them. And I expect this group to report back to me with recommendations as soon as possible.
As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased cows don’t find their way into the food supply. And we are also strengthening our food safety system and modernizing our labs with a billion dollar investment, a portion of which will go toward significantly increasing the number of food inspectors, helping ensure that the FDA has the staff and support they need to protect the food we eat.
In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your President, but as a parent. When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week. No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch. Just as no family should have to worry that the medicines they buy will cause them harm. Protecting the safety of our food and drugs is one of the most fundamental responsibilities government has, and, with the outstanding team I am announcing today, it is a responsibility that I intend to uphold in the months and years to come.
Well, shut my mouth. Sheriff Obama has come to the rescue once again, with the revamping of the FDA. Dr. Margaret Hamburg, former NYC health commissioner, is the new czar, heading a brand-new Food Safety Working Group. She has to be better than the old czar, because the old czar done stunk up the joint. But the Sheriff’s on a roll lately, with four days of upticks on the Dow. So I’m placated, for the time being.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama says the nation's decades-old food safety system is a "hazard to public health" and in need of an overhaul, starting with the selection of a new head of the federal Food and Drug Administration.
Obama used his weekly radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as FDA commissioner, and his choice of Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy.
The president also said he was creating a Food Safety Working Group to coordinate food safety laws throughout government and advise him on how to update them. Many of these laws, essential to safeguarding the public from disease, haven't been touched since they were written in the time of President Theodore Roosevelt, he said.
Obama said the food safety system is too spread out, making it difficult to share information and solve problems.
He also blamed recent underfunding and understaffing at FDA that has left the agency unable to conduct annual inspections of more than a fraction of the 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses in the country.
"That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg," Obama pledged.
Hamburg, 53, is a well-known bioterrorism expert. She was an assistant health secretary under President Bill Clinton and helped lay the groundwork for the government's bioterrorism and flu pandemic preparations.
As New York City's top health official in the early 1990s, she created a program that cut high rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis.
She is the daughter of two doctors. Her mother was the first black woman to earn a medical degree from Yale University, and she credits her Jewish father for instilling in her a passion for public health.
Sharfstein, 39, is a pediatrician who has challenged the FDA on the safety of over-the-counter cold medicines for children. He also served as a health policy aide to Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who plays a leading role in overseeing the pharmaceutical industry.
Both are doctors and outsiders to the troubled agency who will face the daunting challenge of trying to turn it around.
Hamburg's appointment requires Senate confirmation; Sharfstein's does not.
Obama said while he doesn't believe government has the answer to every problem, there are certain things that only government can do such as "ensuring that the foods we eat and the medicines we take are safe and don't cause us harm."
"Protecting the safety of our food and drugs is one of the most fundamental responsibilities government has," he said.
Obama cited a string of breakdowns in assuring food safety in recent years from contaminated spinach in 2006 to salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes last year. This year, a massive salmonella outbreak in peanut products has sickened more than 600 people, is suspected of causing nine deaths and led to one of the largest product recalls in U.S. history. These cases are a "painful reminder of how tragic the consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and government is unable to do its job," Obama said, noting that contaminated food outbreaks have more than tripled to nearly 350 a year from 100 incidents annually in the early 1990s.
The FDA's work will be part of the larger effort undertaken by the Food Safety Working Group.
Obama also announced a complete ban on the slaughter of cows too sick or weak to stand on their own, to keep them out of the food supply. So-called "downer" cows are at increased risk for mad cow disease, E. coli and other infections, partly because they typically wallow in feces.
Downer cattle are already mostly banned from slaughter, but the new rule would end an exception or loophole that allowed some "downer" cattle into the food supply if they passed an additional veterinary inspection.
Obama's action finalizes a rule announced last year following the nation's largest beef recall, which involved a slaughterhouse in Chino, Calif., where downer cows entered the food supply.
Obama said he takes food safety seriously not just as a president, but as the parent of daughters 10 and 7 years old.
When he learned of the peanut product recall, Obama said he immediately thought of his younger daughter, Sasha, who eats peanut butter sandwiches several times a week.
"No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch," he said.
However, the above AP article, published this morning, fails to mention any overhaul of the CDC, which to my thinking was just as complicit as the FDA in the tomato-turned-pepper salmonella fiasco last June. And we have to give thanks to the departing group for the phrase ‘salmonella in pepper and possibly tomatoes last year’. Both the FDA & CDC never absolved the tomato industry after their cretinous-borderline-criminal behavior, and now it looks like that misinformation will follow these faux-bureaucrats to their graves.
Problem is, we're still alive & have to deal with the resulting, hopefully temporary, decreased demand for tomatoes since then.
Job well done, jokers. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. (Expletives deleted)
