US FDA head gives up cancer duties after criticism

[UpInArms]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N30636877.htm

WASHINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - National Cancer Institute Director Andrew von Eschenbach will give up his daily duties there to focus on his new job as acting Food and Drug Administration commissioner, he told FDA staff on Friday.

Von Eschenbach also said he will recuse himself from certain FDA business that involves NCI research.

Critics had said Von Eschenbach could not perform both jobs well, and that he could face a conflict of interest when dealing with NCI matters before the FDA.

"I am now devoting my energies to the work of FDA in protecting and advancing the health of the American people, " Von Eschenbach said in an e-mail to staff.

...more...

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Isn't that special.....

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/2004-05-24-DenverPost-advocates-regulators.htm

Four paragraphs mod... no less, no more.

When Advocates Become Regulators
President Bush has installed more than 100 top officials who were once lobbyists, attorneys or spokespeople for the industries they oversee.

by Anne C. Mulkern

WASHINGTON -- In a New York City ballroom days before Christmas, a powerful Bush administration lawyer made an unprecedented offer to drug companies, one likely to protect their profits and potentially hurt consumers.

Daniel E. Troy, lead counsel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, extended the government's help in torpedoing certain lawsuits. Among Troy's targets: claims that medications caused devastating and unexpected side effects.

Pitch us lawsuits that we might get involved in, Troy told several hundred pharmaceutical attorneys, some of them old friends and acquaintances from his previous role representing major U.S. pharmaceutical firms.