Just another minor article. One of the odd things about having been a bit of a vagabond over the last couple of years (four residences in the last three years) is that sometimes you are the beneficiary of leftovers. Take for instance my current situation (soon to end by the way with a move to permanent digs). I have been the beneficiary of a subscription to the New York Times. Not that this is the be-all and end-all of communications it is just a way of getting additional input dropped on my driveway. Today’s Times carried an article that caught my eye regarding Dr. von Eschenbach (you know him perhaps better as “Andy” in his friendly blog presentations on the FDA website), the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. It seems that Congress has been badgering Andy just a bit about how much money he needs to insure the effectiveness of the Food and Drug Administration. Some of the inquiries have become most pointed (recall the written communications between Congressman Waxman’s office and Andy a while back among others). Andy finally came up with a number to give to Congress identifying additional spending on FDA activities to the tune of $275 million. It seems that there is significant support to give FDA more money to do its job and now is the best time to ask for it. Congressman Dingle has been particularly vocal about FDA identifying how much money they need. Now that a number has been identified, what’s the big deal? Well, let’s look just a little closer. Recall that the FDA has jurisdiction over food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. That’s a hefty burden. Consider that the political motivator for this Congressional generosity is the series of tainted products identified in recent months (most notably heparin -- a drug product) – all of which had something to do with importation. So here’s the breakdown of where the additional money is supposed to go: $40 million for modernizing FDA’s science and work force (that’s 14.5%) plus another $10 million for facilities and laboratory upgrades (that’s a bit less than 4%). Then there is the $100 million allocated to medical product and drug safety activities (a good 36%). So that leaves $125 million. All of that (over 45% of the total additional allocation) goes toward the financing of “food safety activities.” A couple of points here before this gets dismissed. First of all – I was not as aware as apparently Andy and Congress are that our food supply is in such bad shape. When the single largest allocation item is on food safety I guess that the folks that make Swanson chicken dinners have been having some problems. The reality is that the folks that sell Swanson Vitamins are coming into the cross-hairs of the agency. If you have doubts about this, recall that the last time a special allocation of funds was given to FDA, Congressmen Waxman and Dingle were very clear about where that money should be spent and it wasn’t on frozen foods. Add to this that attributed glee expressed by CSPI’s food safety director (another of the Dietary Supplement industry’s challengers) at the appropriation and – well the writing on the wall. Where will this $125 million be spent? We cannot say for certain but try to recall how many items used in dietary supplements are imported (an important target of the Congressional wrath) and how key members of Congress feel about this industry. Stay tuned.