Tom Harkin: “I rise in favor of the nomination of Dr. Lester Crawford to be the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. I…”

“I rise in favor of the nomination of Dr. Lester Crawford to be the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. I do this because I believe it is important for the FDA to have stable, permanent leadership at this critical time in its history. Dr. Crawford has valuable experience both in and out of government and has a background that makes him qualified for this position. I want to highlight several issues where I would like to work with Dr. Crawford in the future. First, Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, DSHEA, in 1994 to ensure the availability and safety of dietary supplements that millions of Americans rely on. Under the leadership of Dr. Crawford as Acting Commissioner, FDA has made significant progress in implementing and enforcing it. There is still work to be done on this issue, and I look forward to continuing to work with FDA to fully implement DSHEA, and to make sure that U.S. consumers have access to safe, effective, and affordable dietary supplements. , Second, given the Nation's obesity epidemic, I appreciate the efforts Dr. Crawford and the agency are making to improve consumer education and information regarding nutrition choices. I urge Dr. Crawford to follow-up and implement recommendations contained in the FDA report on obesity, ``Calories Count.'' In particular, Dr.…”