I know more about the FDA than anyone on these boards, WHY?
Because..... a good friend on mine was a investigator for the FDA for many years before becoming a whistle blower. I met him many years ago at a vaccine conference. We exchanged many hours of phone conversations and emails, I told him everything I knew about certain things that I had investigated, He offered me a job with his company as a medical researcher. I turned him down as I felt my passion was strictly devoted to my sons cause. He taught me the ins and outs of the FDA. This was the worst choice Obama has made. On Mar 11, 7:02 pm, xi <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a9JzAjf56lxM&refe... > > March 11 (Bloomberg) -- Margaret A. Hamburg, a former New York City > health commissioner, is President Barack Obama’s pick to run the U.S. > Food and Drug Administration, a person familiar with the decision > said. > > Joshua Sharfstein, commissioner of the Baltimore city health > department since 2005, is expected to be named as deputy FDA > commissioner, another person said. > > If confirmed, Hamburg, a physician and bioterrorism expert, would take > the helm after a salmonella outbreak traced to peanut products led to > nine deaths and sickened more than 660 people, and a year after > recalls of a blood thinner with a sometimes deadly ingredient traced > to China. Obama last month promised a full review of the agency, which > regulates products that account for $1 trillion in consumer spending > and range from lipstick to heart stents. > > “The FDA, as the nation’s largest regulatory agency, is on the hot > seat to better protect Americans from a wide range of health risks,” > said Shelley Hearne, managing director of the Pew Health & Human > Services Policy Program, in Washington, in an e- mail before today. > “Americans will be able to better trust the safety of their foods and > pharmaceuticals knowing that what they eat and what they’re prescribed > should be safer under Peggy Hamburg’s watch.” > > Public Health, Neuroscience > > Hamburg, 53, would go to the FDA with a background in neuroscience, > drug research and public health. As New York City’s health > commissioner from 1991 to 1997, she gained experience running a large > bureaucracy. Hamburg also has worked within the federal health > bureaucracy, researching AIDS at the National Institutes of Health and > later as an assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services > Department, where her responsibilities included strategic planning and > the development and review of regulations. > > The choices were reported earlier by the New York Times. > > Hamburg sits on the board of Henry Schein Inc., a Melville, New York, > distributor of medical products and services, including software. > > Sharfstein, 39, has served as commissioner of the Baltimore city > health department since 2005, managing a $150 million budget and about > 800 employees. He made national headlines in March 2007 by petitioning > the FDA to ban the marketing of over-the-counter cough and cold drugs > to children younger than 6 because of the risk of side effects and > lack of proven benefits. His year-and-a- half fight prompted companies > to warn against use by infants and toddlers last October. > > Critic of Gifts > > Sharfstein has also criticized drugmakers over distributing gifts to > doctors. In his first year at Harvard Medical School in 1992, he > organized a drive for his fellow students to return textbooks paid for > by Novartis AG’s generic-drug unit Sandoz. He also wrote a letter to > the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine in 1997 complaining > about Pfizer Inc. sponsoring a beer and billiards night for doctors in > Boston. > > Hamburg comes from a family steeped in medicine and research. Her > mother, Beatrix, was the first black woman to attend Vassar College > and the first to earn a medical degree at Yale University, according > to the National Library of Medicine. Her father, David, also a > physician, headed the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the non-profit > National Academies of Science that offers science-based advice on > health issues, from 1975 to 1980. > > Agency Budget, Failures > > Hamburg would take over an agency with an annual budget of almost $2 > billion. Many lawmakers, including Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut > Democrat who chairs an FDA appropriations subcommittee, say the agency > badly needs more funding. On Feb. 26, Obama proposed increasing the > FDA budget for food safety to $1 billion, from $662 million in George > W. Bush’s request for 2009. > > In recent years, the FDA failed to catch Chinese contamination of the > blood thinner heparin, endured controversy over a politically driven > delay in approving the over-the-counter contraceptive Plan B, and > withdrew the painkiller Vioxx in 2004 after it was linked to heart > attacks. > > The agency’s food safety-net has also been unable to stop or swiftly > track food-poisoning outbreaks involving tainted spinach, jalapeno > peppers and currently, peanut products. > > Regulating Tobacco > > Even as the 11,000-strong agency struggles with its current load, > Congress is considering giving the FDA the power to regulate tobacco > as well. > > Critics such as Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts > Democrat, have questioned the agency’s stance on use of the suspected > toxin bisphenol A in baby bottles, cans and other products. Some > studies have linked BPA to childhood diabetes and developmental > changes. While the chemical’s use in plastic is sharply limited in > Canada and Europe, the FDA continues to declare it safe at current > exposure levels. > > Hamburg received her bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College, now > part of Harvard University, in 1978 and her medical degree from > Harvard in 1983. She finished her training at the New York > Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. > > She later conducted research in neuroscience at Rockefeller University > in New York, then studied neuropharmacology, which examines the effect > of drugs on the nervous system, at the National Institute of Mental > Health in Bethesda, Maryland. > > Hamburg as Health Commissioner > > Hamburg worked in the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health > Promotion from 1986 to 1988, then moved to the National Institute of > Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, > where she focused on AIDS research. > > As New York City health commissioner from 1991 to 1997, Hamburg > designed a tuberculosis control program that reduced New York’s TB > rate by 46 percent between 1992 and 1997, and by 86 percent for the > most resistant strains, according to the National Library of > Medicine. > > She developed initiatives that raised childhood immunization rates to > record levels, and created the first program in the U.S. to help the > public prepare and respond in the event of a terrorist attack using a > biological agent, such as anthrax. > > Hamburg also gave birth to her two children while in New York City and > had her name noted twice on their birth certificates: once as their > mother, and once as the city’s health commissioner. > > In 1993, while expecting her first child, Hamburg turned down an > opportunity to serve as President Bill Clinton’s first federal AIDS > coordinator. Four years later, she accepted Clinton’s offer to be > assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Health and > Human Services Department, where she served as principal adviser to > then-Secretary Donna Shalala. > > In 2001, she joined the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based > group focused on reducing the public safety threat from chemical, > biological and nuclear weapons. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
