WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama chose public health and biological threat expert Dr. Margaret Hamburg to run the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and announced a cabinet-level food safety group on Saturday.
Obama also announced measures to keep meat from diseased cows from entering the food supply and promised to increase the number of FDA food inspectors and modernize food safety labs.
He selected Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Joshua Sharfstein to be Hamburg's principal deputy.
"Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans safer and more secure," Obama said in his weekly radio address.
If confirmed by the Senate, Hamburg will take over an agency battered by a string of often deadly food poisoning and drug safety issues, including on ongoing outbreak of salmonella in peanut products that forced the largest food recall in U.S. history.
The outbreak has made 683 people in 46 states sick, killed as many as nine and forced the recall of more than 3,000 products.
"When I heard peanut products were being contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably three times a week," Obama said.
"No parent should have to worry that their child is going to get sick from their lunch."
Obama said outdated food safety laws were in part to blame. "Inspection and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it's difficult for different parts of our government to share information, work together, and solve problems," he said.
UNDERFUNDED AND UNDERSTAFFED
Obama said the FDA "has been underfunded and understaffed in recent years, leaving the agency with the resources to inspect just 7,000 of our 150,000 food-processing plants and warehouses each year. That means roughly 95 percent of them go uninspected."
Obama said he would assign his Health and Human Services secretary -- his nominee is former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius -- and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack -- to head a working group to advise on ways to better coordinate and upgrade food safety laws.
By choosing Hamburg, Obama makes clear the FDA's focus will be safety and not necessarily speeding through drug approvals.
Hamburg headed an Institute of Medicine panel that reported on microbial threats in 2003, and as New York City health commissioner battled an outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis fueled by the AIDS epidemic.
"There are few jobs in the federal government that are as tough or important as FDA commissioner," said Jean Halloran, director of food policy initiatives at Consumers Union.
Hamburg's nomination means the FDA will "have the leadership it needs at a time when it faces huge challenges," Halloran added.
Hamburg, replying to e-mail, declined to comment.
Obama also highlighted a new USDA rule to keep sick and injured cattle out of slaughterhouses to safeguard against mad cow disease.
He praised Sharfstein for "efforts to protect children from unsafe over-the-counter cough and cold medications" and a program to ensure people with disabilities have access to prescription drugs.
Sharfstein said in a statement he would step down from his post in Baltimore as of March 27.
The pharmaceutical industry's main lobbying group praised Hamburg's selection but did not comment on Sharfstein, who did previous work for Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, a harsh critic of drugmakers.
"Dr. Hamburg brings managerial skills that are essential for directing science-based activities" at the FDA, said Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine, Maggie Fox and Jeff Mason, editing by Vicki Allen)
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