Political Quotes

“I thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, we are here today in part to deal with the issue of the compounding pharmacies which allows the FDA to have greater oversight over interstate sales. How we got here is a tragedy. In our Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee, we found that some 64 people died from this pain medication manufactured by the New England Compounding Center. These patients trusted that the steroids injected into their spine or their joints to relieve chronic pain was perfectly safe because of the confidence our Nation's health care providers place in the Food and Drug Administration. That drug was contaminated with fungus and hurt people dramatically. More than 700 people received these lethal injections. Today, most are living with the unbearable horror of not knowing whether they will survive and must spend weeks in the hospital, missing work, holidays, and time with family, and must take large doses of morphine to ease the pain. Each day is lived under the deadly threat of an infection that could reach their brains and perhaps kill them. This outbreak is one of the worst public health disasters in our country's history and a terrible tragedy and an epic failure. Sadly, during our hearings, it was pointed out that while the FDA was still having multiple visits to compounding pharmacies, they still told us they did not have the authority. Unfortunately, several years had dragged on where the FDA heard numerous complaints about the problems with NECC.…”