Frustrated House panel threatens to subpoena FDA

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Congressional committee on Thursday threatened to subpoena the Food and Drug Administration unless the agency responds to lawmakers' requests for documents about U.S. drug and food safety.

Rep. John Dingell (news, bio, voting record), the Democratic chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, accused the FDA of dragging its feet in responding to his panel's oversight subcommittee.

If the FDA does not comply by June 1, Dingell said the panel would issue subpoenas to obtain the information.

-snip-

Since January, the committee has asked the FDA to provide documents about generic drug approvals, an outbreak of salmonella in peanut butter, post-market surveillance of the antibiotic Ketek, contamination of pet food with ingredients imported from China, and antibiotic resistance linked to wide use of drugs in farm animals.

"The delays and the quality of responses to the committee's requests concerning FDA are unacceptable," Dingell said in a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt. Leavitt's department oversees the FDA.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070525/pl_nm/fda_congress_dc;_ylt=Ak1J74sURmS2JeFnHeY99IXMWM0F

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This is disgusting.

The Bush administration is counting on Congress to be afraid of pushing a 'Constitutional Crisis'. So far, they've been proven correct.

DO IT cause your going to have to DO IT anyway

So DO IT

That the FDA should maybe hand over the documents the House desires - provided, of course, that it wouldn't provoke any accusations of "playing politics", "political theater" or "not supporting the troops".

The House would also require assurances that Fox News would not attack them for the action.