Four former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioners discussed controversial issues that have politicized the agency in a panel discussion Wednesday afternoon in the Jack Morton Auditorium.
The event, sponsored by the GW Medical Center's Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, drew about 200 professors, doctors and government employees to campus. The FDA protects public health by regulating human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, cosmetics and the U.S. food supply. The four former commissioners' combined FDA leadership spanned three decades.
All commissioners saw the delayed agency approval of the emergency contraception Plan B for over-the-counter use as the best example of politics impeding the agency's mission. Many who opposed the contraceptive accused the agency of approving its use for political reason.
David Kessler, the FDA commissioner through both Presidents George H.W. Bush's and Bill Clinton's administrations, said the chief executive office could do a lot to improve the agency's image.
"We all work for the president of the United States," Kessler said. "If the president wants to make a decision because he believes something should be available, then come out and say it."
All of the commissioners agreed that the FDA must remain an agency that has no political agenda. Dr. Donald Kennedy, who served during the first half of President Jimmy Carter's administration, said the agency's work is blemished when politicians accuse it of idealism.
"I'm more deeply concerned about the tendency of political appointees and officials to rework or reinterpret scientific findings in the pursuit of particular policies," Kennedy said.
Young, who served as commissioner of the FDA under President Ronald Reagan for about five years and passed the first AIDS prevention drug, said the current White House has been particularly harassing to the FDA.
"Some administrations, and in particular this one, have thought that it was important to build some backfires against what it regards as an over appetite for regulation," Young said.
The event, sponsored by the GW Medical Center's Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, drew about 200 professors, doctors and government employees to campus. The FDA protects public health by regulating human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, cosmetics and the U.S. food supply. The four former commissioners' combined FDA leadership spanned three decades.
All commissioners saw the delayed agency approval of the emergency contraception Plan B for over-the-counter use as the best example of politics impeding the agency's mission. Many who opposed the contraceptive accused the agency of approving its use for political reason.
David Kessler, the FDA commissioner through both Presidents George H.W. Bush's and Bill Clinton's administrations, said the chief executive office could do a lot to improve the agency's image.
"We all work for the president of the United States," Kessler said. "If the president wants to make a decision because he believes something should be available, then come out and say it."
All of the commissioners agreed that the FDA must remain an agency that has no political agenda. Dr. Donald Kennedy, who served during the first half of President Jimmy Carter's administration, said the agency's work is blemished when politicians accuse it of idealism.
"I'm more deeply concerned about the tendency of political appointees and officials to rework or reinterpret scientific findings in the pursuit of particular policies," Kennedy said.
Young, who served as commissioner of the FDA under President Ronald Reagan for about five years and passed the first AIDS prevention drug, said the current White House has been particularly harassing to the FDA.
"Some administrations, and in particular this one, have thought that it was important to build some backfires against what it regards as an over appetite for regulation," Young said.
