Grassley seeks Commissioner

Executive Summary

"The FDA has struggled with temporary leadership for too long," Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) asserts in a Feb. 3 letter to President Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card. "I reiterate my request for the President to nominate a permanent Commissioner to the FDA as soon as possible," states Grassley, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. Grassley first called for a leader "who can be totally dedicated to the job" when NCI Director Andrew Von Eschenbach assumed the position of acting commissioner in September (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 3, 2005, p. 6). FDA "needs and deserves a full-time, permanent Commissioner with the authority to address the cultural, structural and scientific challenges that have plagued the agency," Grassley states. "As has been overwhelmingly evident in the past few years, there are too many concerns and questionable practices that would require anything less"...