I’m speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, June 25-28. I don’t have details yet, but will post when I do.
The New York Times article on drug industry user fee payments to the FDA reminded me of my first meeting as a newly appointed member of the FDA’s Science Board in the late 1990s. Here’s how it went:
FDA staff: We want to get your advice on user fees for inspection of food production facilties.
Me, appalled (oh no. Not this at my very first meeting): You mean food companies would pay the FDA’s expenses for inspecting their facilities?
FDA: Yes, what’s wrong with that?
Me: It’s causes a conflict of interest. It puts the FDA under financial pressure to stay on good terms with the companies and not find problems.
FDA: But NIH does it.
Me: NIH is not a regulatory agency; FDA is.
I did not last long on that committee. I was nominated for it again a year or so ago but never heard another word about it.
The Times article is about the drug industry. Here are some excerpts:
So does the FDA charge food companies for regulating them? Yes.
The FDA can charge user fees for:
Food user fees are less conflicted than for drugs, and only about 1% of the cost of FDA’s food inspections comes from user fees.
But this is a bad system overall. FDA is a regulatory agency. It requires absolute independence in order to do its work honestly. It should be taxpayer supported entirely so it can work entirely in the public interrest.
See:
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Coming soon! My memoir, October 4.
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