del.icio.us
Digg It!
E-Mail to a Friend
Printable Version
Comments
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Proposed legislation to overhaul the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is vital but needs more money to make it work, the agency's head said.
"We are concerned that the bill does not provide a guaranteed consistent funding source to help FDA fulfill its new responsibilities," Margaret Hamburg, the agency's commissioner, Thursday told the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
The proposed overhaul would help the FDA prevent food-borne illness rather than just respond to outbreaks, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
To do that, the FDA needs more inspectors and expensive new computer systems for better record-keeping, Hamburg said, without detailing how much additional money would be needed.
A House bill has an estimated five-year price tag of $3.7 billion, financed, in part, by a $500 annual fee imposed on food facilities. The Senate bill, sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., has yet to set a price tag.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something about food safety," Durbin told the committee Thursday.