Dems prevent FDA from closing 11 safety labs

[MissWaverly]

FDA labs, once targeted for closure, to remain open, anyone who feels that Dems are wimps, we can thank Rep. Bart Stupak
(D-Mich) for keeping them open.

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Friday that it has scrapped a controversial plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories after congressional leaders and safety advocates said that the move would hurt the agency's ability to respond to public health emergencies.

The FDA decision was disclosed in a letter to agency staff by Margaret Glavin, the FDA's associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. In the letter, Glavin said the closures — part of a proposed reorganization of the FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs — would have to be reconsidered in light of "new import and food safety initiatives."
"To assure our success and allow additional time to gather input, I am canceling plans for the rollout of all changes to our organizational structure," Glavin wrote.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who opposed the lab closures, said the FDA's decision to reverse course was the right call.
"As concerns about food safety mount, the FDA's proposal to close its field labs, merge its district offices and concentrate more power in Washington represented exactly the wrong approach. In fact, if it had been implemented, the FDA's plan could have put the American public health at an even greater risk."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/19042.html

[burrowowl]

1. We need more good news on

what the Dems have done. Thanks for link!

[MissWaverly]

2. Thanks, I think so too

we need to get our mojo back

:-)

[Telly Savalas]

3. I'm pretty frustrated with the party...

but I'll concede that it's good to know about things like this.

Such little things add up to make a difference in the quality of people's everyday lives. (Although we really do need to be aiming a lot higher.)

[MissWaverly]

5. the problem is that it is a systematic dismantling of

our government, you see one hole, then there's another, labs are what give you the tools to diagnose an illness or to
help trace its source. Without that, where would we be in a crisis like the spinach e. coli outbreak?

I am also frustrated becuz they think the best thing about leaving Bush in office is that it will increase
the Democratic margin of victory. They are missing the damage that is being done every day like the Minnesota bridge collapse
or mine safety, this is putting us at risk in a big way.

[burrowowl]

4. KICK!

I am terribly upset with the DEMs, but we have to gather our rosebuds where we may!

[MissWaverly]

6. yes, me too

but we have to encourage them becuz they are the only ones to look out for us, if the GOP had an ounce of decency we would
not be in the mess we are in today.