Congressman expects FDA to shelve lab consolidation plan
Insiders say labs the agency originally slated for closing have been neglected in terms of resources and staff.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's top investigative member expects FDA employees who met this week to overhaul the agency's reorganization proposal to recommend FDA not only keep all of its testing labs open, but expand their capacity.
Whether the group will recommend adding labs or expanding its labs is unclear, but Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told CongressDaily that his early impression from sources is that the group might buck the agency's original plan to close seven of its 13 labs responsible for testing food and drugs.
Labs FDA originally slated for closing have been neglected in terms of resources and staff, insiders said, and are in desperate need of upgrades. Stupak described it as "closing by attrition."
A recent science advisory panel report found the agency is failing at most aspects of its mission because of inadequate funding, and, particularly in the area of testing, labs needs $50 million worth of upgrades.
"It always seems to come back to resources," Stupak said. Stupak, Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and other committee Democrats have proposed legislation expected to see action next year that would raise money for FDA's food and drug safety efforts by charging import user fees.
A member of the reorganization group who asked not to be identified said that, after this week, employees from across the country will meet one last time before the proposal goes to the commissioner.
FDA employees who met in Rockville, Md., this week are assessing the lab situation and reviewing how the agency can better work with state and foreign counterparts, and improve compliance and training.
If FDA settles on increasing lab capacity, Stupak said the committee would be pleased.
"I think our committee would say, 'We applaud you -- it's basically the same thing the committee has found,'" he said.
The only caveat is that the final reorganization proposal is up to FDA Associate Commissioner for Regulatory Affairs Margaret Glavin, who hatched the original plan. Glavin convened employees from labs and district and regional offices around the country after they complained about not having input the first time around.
FDA intended to close more than half its labs to consolidate efforts and make testing more efficient. After intense pressure from Stupak and Dingell early in the year, Glavin said the agency would suspend the lab closings and revisit the plan in light of recommendations from the president's import panel.
Dingell and Stupak were uneasy with FDA's justification for closing the labs, particularly when repeated recalls of deadly foods were occurring.
Committee investigators noted at the time some of the labs perform functions that could not be duplicated. For example, the San Francisco lab marked for closure handles the bulk of Asian seafood imports, as well as domestic leafy greens concentrated in the Salinas Valley. Chinese seafood and California-grown spinach have been the culprits in recent contamination scares.