DeLauro wants FDA approvals list
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
Concerned that commercial and political interests "permeated the culture" of FDA and led to the approval of unsafe or ineffective products, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., requests the agency list all drugs, devices and biologics it approved or cleared in the final three months of the Bush administration. The chairwoman of the Appropriations subcommittee with FDA oversight also asks acting FDA Commissioner Frank M. Torti in a Feb. 12 letter about agency decisions about the generally recognized as safe status for food products made between November 2008 and January 2009. FDA has until Feb. 26 to respond to DeLauro's request, which follows a January letter from agency scientists that "corrupt" FDA managers pushed approval of questionable products (1"The Tan Sheet" Jan. 19, 2009, p. 16)