Bill Clinton: “as we recognize the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration, I would like to rise and…”

“as we recognize the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Food and Drug Administration, I would like to rise and express my concern about the current direction of this agency. There is no doubt that, since the agency's founding, the employees of the FDA have made an enormous contribution to protection the health of our Nation, and I believe that we should recognize the efforts of the thousands of civil servants who have helped to ensure the safety of our food and medicine. Yet while the FDA has long represented the gold standard of consumer protection, I am afraid that this standard is being tarnished by the current activities of the agency. Under this administration, we have seen ideology placed before science, and politics before the public health. Consider the way in which the FDA has sought to block wider access to Emergency Contraception, also known as Plan B, a tool that can prevent unintended pregnancy. Two successive FDA commissioners--Bush administration political appointees--blocked Plan B from being sold over the counter, overruling the FDA's medical experts, advisors, and the recommendations of over 70 organizations, induding the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The Government Accountability Office has confirmed that the FDA's 2004 decision not to approve over-the-counter sales was politically motivated.…”