Appointment of Hamburg as FDA commissioner moves a step closer

doi:10.1136/bmj.b1925

Published 11 May 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b1925
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b1925

News

Appointment of Hamburg as FDA commissioner moves a step closer

Bob Roehr

¹ Washington, DC

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Not the faintest whiff of discontent was evident at the confirmationhearing on 7 May for Margaret Hamburg to lead the US Food andDrug Administration, with senators from both parties sayingthat they thought her record was impressive.

Concern over the threat of A/H1N1 flu at a time when key healthpositions in Barack Obama’s administration remain unfilled—includingseveral at the FDA, the National Institutes for Health, andthe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—had promptedthe Senate health committee to bring the hearing forward bya week.

Dr Hamburg played it safe at the confirmation session, sayingthat she was "deeply honoured" to be nominated. She saw herprincipal challenges as food safety, the increasingly globalorigin of the $1 trillion worth of products that the FDA regulateseach year, and the challenge of new emerging diseases.

Many observers believe that Dr Hamburg will focus on the food. . . [Full text of this article]

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