Obama to order full review of FDA operations

[sabra]

Source: MSNBC

President Barack Obama is ordering a “complete review” of the Food and Drug Administration after it failed to detect shipments of salmonella-contaminated peanut products that have sickened more than 500 people and may be linked to as many as eight deaths, he told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer.

In an interview that aired Monday, Obama said the agency’s failure to recognize and intercept the products was only the latest of numerous “instances over the last several years” in which “the FDA has not been able to catch some of these things as quickly as I expect them to catch.”

He did not cite what other incidents he was referring to. But critics have accused the administration of former President George W. Bush of having crippled the agency by cutting its budget over the last eight years.

“At bare minimum, we should be able to count on our government keeping our kids safe when they eat peanut butter,” Obama told Lauer in the interview, which was conducted Sunday at the White House.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28969400/