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Vendaval -> FDA, new commissioner, deputy and agency over-haul (3/14/2009 2:29:42 PM)
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President Obama has 2 new people with solid qualifications coming in to run the FDA. And the whole agency is being reviewed and over-hauled.
"Obama's FDA picks bring public health focus"
By Lisa Richwine - Analysis
Sat Mar 14, 2009 4:01pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's choices to lead the Food and Drug Administration place an emphasis on public health and safety at an agency that has struggled with contaminated food and serious drug side effects.
Dr. Margaret Hamburg, named by Obama on Saturday to serve as FDA commissioner, served as New York City's health commissioner, where she was known for a program that sharply cut tuberculosis infection rates, and has experience on issues ranging from AIDS to reduction of biological threats.
Obama appointed Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the current health commissioner in Baltimore, as Hamburg's principal deputy. Sharfstein made headlines for pushing the FDA in recent years to warn against use of over-the-counter cough and cold medicines in young children.
The two doctors won praise from public health experts, consumer groups and Democratic lawmakers who have criticized the FDA's handling of risky medicines and tainted food, including an ongoing outbreak of salmonella in peanut products that has killed up to nine people.
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52D1PC20090314
and
"Obama: Food safety system a health 'hazard'"
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
3/14/09
"The president also is creating a special advisory group to coordinate food safety laws and recommend how to update them. Many of these laws have not changed since they were written early in the last century, he said.
Obama said too many agencies are responsible for food safety, making it difficult to share information and stop problems from falling through the cracks.
The FDA does not have enough money or workers to conduct annual inspections at more than a fraction of the 150,000 food processing plants and warehouses in the country, Obama said.
"That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg," he pledged."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29691354/
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