FDA scientists tell Obama agency is " fundamentally broken "

Via straybaby, the Wall Street Journal reports that FDA scientists are looking for change they can believe in at the FDA:

A group of scientists at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team pleading with him to restructure the agency, saying managers have ordered, intimidated and coerced scientists to manipulate data in violation of the law.



The nine scientists, whose names have been provided to the transition team and to some members of Congress, say the FDA is a "fundamentally broken" agency and describe it as place where honest employees committed to integrity can't act without fear of reprisal.



"There is an atmosphere at FDA in which the honest employee fears the dishonest employee," according to the letter, addressed to John Podesta, head of Mr. Obama's transition team.

FDA, of course, says... well, what they always say:

The FDA has been working "very closely" with Mr. Obama's transition team and will address any issues or concerns the team presents, said agency spokeswoman Judy Leon. She said the agency is "actively engaged in a process to explore the staff members' concerns and take appropriate action."

The scientists' recipe for change? Honesty, transparency, and protection for whistleblowers:

The group said there needs to be a complete restructuring of the evaluation and approval process, and that Mr. Obama needs to sign new legislation giving protection to government employees who speak out against corruption.

I went into the pet food recall with relatively little respect for FDA, based on my years covering the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I was still shocked at the glaring incompetence and bumbled communication coming out of the agency, but more so at the fact that they didn't even try to hide that they were working for business and not the American people. In fact, they didn't even seem to be aware that their mission as an agency is supposedly this:

(P)rotecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

I went to an old column I wrote on the San Francisco Chronicle website to grab that quote, and as I read it, I found myself still not believing the staggering scope of what happened, and how, and how utterly the FDA has failed us -- not us as pet owners, and not our pets, but America. Because we now know for sure what many of us, including Gina and me, said from the very beginning: this is about a broken food safety system and not about pets.



Infant formula, candy, milk, instant coffee, fish, pork, chicken, eggs, fish food, livestock feed... contamination is everywhere, in the most common foods we eat and feed our children and our pets.



"Fundamentally broken." No kidding.



Time for change? You bet.

Comments

[straybaby]

"fundamentally broken" is the new understatement :)



Credit goes to Lou Dobbs for the attention to the issue. I was flipping news channels at the top of the hour and hit his just right when he was doing the teaser for this. Then I googled:



http://www.google.com/search?q=FDA+scientists+to+Obama&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a



letter was sent 2 days ago and it took an off chance I heard about it?! Not good.



seems like this story could get legs if we give it a push ;) (pet sites, mommy sites) Especially since we have a wee bit of a salmonella issue right now (was this kept on the downlow because it followed the tomato/whatever issue so closely?) and they are still finding melamine in milk by-products. Get ready for Soy to get a headline soon . . .



Great image. Local news had a "just wash your hands before/after food" segment tonight in regards to salmonella. They did the pets/pet food issue, but also let us know our food was just as bad. YUM!



Timely aside for me . . . CSA mtg tomorrow at 2pm! Oh how I love my farmers!!! I may actually have to do that ol' "walking through the snow to get there" routine. Not so bad usually in the city, but even if it is, I'll do it happily! If anyone is looking for a CSA in your area for this harvest season, NOW is the time to sign up!! (mine already has a wait list!) Here's a starting point for looking for local food/CSAs/farmers Markets/etc



http://www.localharvest.org/

[Carol V]

Maybe Dr Nestle can arrange for a lunch meeting with the new prez.....and she can bring a melamine detection test and use it on all of the food she is served! (just daydreaming)....

[Dorene]

Over at Change.gov where you can vote on questions, the one about overhauling the FDA is getting a decent number of clicks.



Go here:



http://change.gov/page/content/openforquestions20081229/



and then go through the "Energy & Environment" section.



I agree with one of the questioners that "Agriculture" should have had its own heading, but at this point, we take what we can get.



It's pretty easy to register and I had a fun time answering questions in about 1/2 of the categories.

[straybaby]

Dorene, thanks for the link. I'll pass it around ;)

[Colorado Transplant]

I got Dr. Nestle's book on "Pet Food Politics".



How painful were the memories of the pet food crises!



Dr. Nestle's description of that time were very accurate, naming all the sources of the tainted food and all the brands affected.



However, I remember the first moment of shock when I heard the news on the radio. All the deluxe brands I fed my beloved cats--recalled. All the ones I wanted to feed them--recalled.



Total nightmare it was, and so painful to remember. However, Dr. Nestle's book shines a huge spotlight on the nightmarish betrayal of the trust I had before that these pet food companies knew the best nutritional elements.



Instead, my cats were heavily poisoned, as were so many other cats and dogs. I am still seething and it never goes away.

[Barbara A. Albright]

Excerpt from Whistleblowers Protection Act:



A]ny disclosure of information” that a covered employee “reasonably

believes” evidences “a violation of any law, rule, or regulation” or evidences “gross

mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, an abuse of authority, or a substantial and

specific danger to public health or safety” is protected on the condition that the

disclosure is not prohibited by law nor required to be kept secret by Executive

Order.



Every state also has its form of "No Fear or Whistleblowers Protection"...unfortunately, not enough brave souls take advantage of it.

[The OTHER Pat]

However, if the prevailing corporate culture does not support whistleblowers, then those in power can and will find other ways to exact retribution.