Information about the Aspen Ideas Festival is here. I am scheduled for a session, The American Wellness Paradox, currently scheduled from 11:00-11:50 a.m., at the East Lawn Tent. This will be a discussion with senior HHS policy advisor, Calley Means. Here’s the blurb on it: “Americans are spending more than ever on healthcare, supplements, wellness trends, and “clean eating,” yet rates of chronic disease and metabolic illness continue to climb. As skepticism fuels the rise of movements like MAHA, debates over what Americans should eat have become deeply cultural, political, and economic. Two influential voices with sharply different perspectives on nutrition and food science explore how food systems, farming practices, consumer culture, and the wellness industry collided to create one of the defining public health debates of our time.”
Federal Appropriations and the FDA
Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee passed the 2017 Agriculture-FDA spending bill.
As Politico explains (behind a paywall, unfortunately)
The bill would boost funding for rural development to $2.9 billion and allocate an additional $33 million over fiscal 2016 levels for the FDA to carry out the requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act.
This isn’t nearly enough to permit FDA to carry out its functions.
The committee also passed amendments to:
- Block the USDA from carrying out rules to protect chicken farmers with contracts with processing companies (they own the birds).
- Exempt e-cigarettes from FDA regulations that restrict e-cigarettes advertising.
Can someone please explain to me why agricultural appropriations committees have jurisdiction over FDA and FDA spending is linked to agriculture spending? OK, this is an historical anomaly; the FDA used to be part of USDA, but that was nearly a century ago.
Today’s FDA is part of the public health service, along with the CDC.
Shouldn’t health committees decide how much funding should go to FDA’s mandate to protect public health?
Just asking.
