WASHINGTON – U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is urging President-elect Barack Obama to look outside the current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) leadership in naming a new commissioner or interim commissioner for the agency.  In a letter this week to Obama and members of his transition team, Stupak urged the incoming administration to seek meaningful reform at the FDA beginning with a complete change in leadership.

“President-elect Obama was elected because the American people are demanding change,” Stupak said.  “There are few places in the federal government where the need for change is more apparent than at the FDA.  The American people and the thousands of hardworking employees at the FDA deserve a leadership team that will bring to the agency a renewed commitment to food and drug safety.”

Stupak’s letter to Obama is below.

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December 3, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama

Presidential Transition Team

Washington, D.C., 20270

Dear President-elect Obama:

Congratulations on recently being elected the 44^th President of the United States of America.  As President you have the privilege of appointing a new Commissioner to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  I would encourage you not to appoint any current senior FDA employee as Commissioner or Interim Commissioner of the FDA.

As a member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee and member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for 12 years, I have been involved with numerous investigations of the FDA.  For the past two years I have served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations which has primary oversight of the FDA.

Since February 2007, I have held 16 hearings into the inadequacies of the FDA to protect Americans from unsafe food, drugs and medical devices. The subcommittee’s investigations revealed how the current FDA senior management blocked clinical trials, drove dedicated medical professionals out of the agency, and lined their pockets with outrageous bonuses. The agency has abandoned its core mission of protecting Americans from contaminated food, unsafe drugs, and medial devices.

You offer a break from the past and renewed hope for all Americans.  I encourage you to seek meaningful reform at the FDA, which begins with a complete change in the FDA’s leadership.  Current senior FDA employees are too close with the industries they regulate, creating a question of who they are working for.  A new Commissioner or Interim Commissioner must bring the Agency back to the forefront of science, integrity, and transparency.  The American people deserve an FDA that will vigorously protect the American people from unsafe food and drugs. 

I look forward to working with you and the new FDA Commissioner to address the weaknesses which exist in the safety of our nation’s food and drug supply.

Sincerely,

BART STUPAK
Member of Congress

Cc: Phil Schiliro, Director of Congressional Relations

      John Podesta, Transition Team