Energy Hearing on FDA Foreign Drug Inspection
April 22, 2008
The Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is currently holding a hearing, "FDA's Foreign Drug Inspection Program: Weaknesses Place Americans at Risk." FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach is testifying, among others.
Full Committee Chairman John Dingell grills the commissioner for refusing to request more resources even as he admits the Administration's budget request is inadequate:
| Chairman Dingell: "You know, I have been in this business a long time. And I have had Food and Drug Commissioners constantly tell me, 'oh, we're going to have a new means of doing this and we're going to do this. We're going to be leaner and meaner.' It turns out that they are leaner, and poorer, and weaker and less capable of doing their job. And all these promises that I get from Commissioners of Food and Drug turn out to be about how they're going to do better turn out to be nothing more than, quite frankly, hooey." |