FDA associate commissioner for regulatory affairs Margaret O’K. Glavin should be removed from her post for sending a “retaliatory” all-hands memo to the agency’s field employees shortly after congressional testimony by several dissident field managers gave the agency low grades for its food inspection performance, House Energy and Commerce leaders said in a letter to FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach.
“(G)iven Ms. Glavin’s blatant conduct, she should be removed from her position directing FDA field staff and replaced by someone who truly believes in reforming the way the FDA does business,” Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee chairman Bart Stupak (D-MI) was quoted in a news release as saying.
“At the same time, the commissioner needs to publicly repudiate and condemn her statements as contrary to the law and his policies at the FDA,” he continued.
Glavin’s conduct could be a federal law violation, said full committee chairman John Dingell (D-MI). He added that her memo contradicted previous testimony by von Eschenbach about not tolerating intimidation or retaliation of any kind.
Dingell is sponsoring a bill to prevent the FDA from proceeding with a plan by Glavin to close seven of the agency’s 13 field laboratories and consolidate district offices, and to require any future closings to first gain congressional approval.
From the September 01, 2007 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
