QDIS Blog

FDA Plan May Close Labs?

by Ed Vawter @ 1:41 pm. Filed under FDA

I came across this article in the Washigton Post and found it disturbing.

FDA Consolidation Plan May Close Labs - washingtonpost.com:

The article mentions that the FDA will be forming a transition team to discuss which labs should stay open. Although no sites were mentioned specifically in this FDA email dated Dec 6 talked about in the WP article, they do speculate that it involved facilities in Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.

There is more information on the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) website. They also had an article on this. They have some more information not in the WP article and say that a similar plan was rejected back in 1996 and that then the General Accounting Office (GAO) found the efficiencies questionable and the plan in general vague.

I must say this caught me completely off guard. I’m still not sure what to think but my initial reaction is this is not a good idea. I have always been in favor of localized offices and while the offices will likely stay, the scientific functions may be what are specific being talked about since it mentions labs. My experience is that having scientific functions consolidated can have a positive effect but that effect is failry small and must be weighed against other factors. In this case, having personal in the area who are more familiar with the localized culture and have the ability to quickly respond to a serious situation should one arise.

The supposed goal is to maximize efficiency but I think it more likely involves cost cutting. Given the food safety situation of late and that these labs are involved in those sorts of situation this is particularly disheartening. The PEER article also point out that the FDA FY 07 budget includes a $20 million increase to “expand the network of laboratories that would rapidly and competently analyze samples in the event of a terrorist attack on our nation’s food supply.” While this increase is minimal at best, the fact that it specifically mentions expanding the network of labs is quite a disparity given the fact that the FDA is wanting to consolidate the labs.

This is especially disturbing in light of the closing of satellite EPA libraries recently.

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