Orrin Hatch: “the Hatch-Wyden amendment, number 1182, modifies FDA's mission statement contained in S. 830. For the first time, this…”

“the Hatch-Wyden amendment, number 1182, modifies FDA's mission statement contained in S. 830. For the first time, this legislation puts into statute a mission statement for the Food and Drug Administration. Because of its important public health role, Congress needs to give FDA the proper mission. In short, the Hatch-Wyden amendment charges FDA to act in partnership with the public, scientific experts, and regulated entities as the agency performs its critical public health mission. The language of our amendment simply makes explicit what is already implicit, proper, and, in fact, necessary: that FDA should work, ``in consultation with experts in science, medicine, and public health and in cooperation with consumers, users, manufacturers, importers, packers, distributors, and retailers of regulated products.'' As longtime advocates of modernizing and reforming the FDA, Senator Wyden and I are convinced that this amendment will help FDA improve and protect the public health. Regulators can increase their effectiveness if they act more closely in concert with the public that they serve.”