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Obama nominee to lead FDA wins backing from Senate committee
Source: Reuters
Politics | Tue Jan 12, 2016 12:53pm EST
Obama nominee to lead FDA wins backing from Senate committee
BY TONI CLARKE
President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Robert Califf, won backing from a Senate committee on Tuesday as its members shrugged off criticism from consumer watchdogs that he is too closely linked with the pharmaceutical industry to lead the agency impartially.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted to confirm Califf as FDA Commissioner, a position that has been open since Dr. Margaret Hamburg stepped down last February.
The nomination must now be approved by the full Senate. He is widely expected to be confirmed.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of moving the nomination to the full Senate, but repeated a threat to oppose it if the FDA does not satisfy her demand for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered salmon.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is running as a Democratic presidential candidate, voted by proxy against the nomination, saying in a statement that the FDA needs a leader "who is prepared to stand up to the drug companies" and that Califf is not that person.
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Obama nominee to lead FDA wins backing from Senate committee
BY TONI CLARKE
President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Robert Califf, won backing from a Senate committee on Tuesday as its members shrugged off criticism from consumer watchdogs that he is too closely linked with the pharmaceutical industry to lead the agency impartially.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted to confirm Califf as FDA Commissioner, a position that has been open since Dr. Margaret Hamburg stepped down last February.
The nomination must now be approved by the full Senate. He is widely expected to be confirmed.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted in favor of moving the nomination to the full Senate, but repeated a threat to oppose it if the FDA does not satisfy her demand for mandatory labeling of genetically engineered salmon.
Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is running as a Democratic presidential candidate, voted by proxy against the nomination, saying in a statement that the FDA needs a leader "who is prepared to stand up to the drug companies" and that Califf is not that person.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-fda-califf-nomination-idUSKCN0UQ26920160112
