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Obama Describes FDA as Agency in Need of Overhaul

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

President Obama said his administration would focus on modernizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, an agency not prepared to handle emerging 21st century challenges in regulating food and drugs.

"I've gotten a lot of commentary about the fact that ... essentially their model was designed for the kind of medical devices you see in museums," said Obama during a presidential panel on jobs and competitiveness late last week, according to Financial Times.

"So that would be an area where [we should be] getting a group to think strategically about how ... [we design] these regulatory bodies so that they are up to speed and more responsive to a dynamic economy," added Obama, according to FT.

The comments come as the White House is continuing a push to reexamine and reform burdensome federal regulations in an effort to boost American job creation.

Food and drug regulation seem to be an area the administration considers in need of modernization. In his FY 2012 budget, Obama proposed a 33 percent increase in FDA's budget to $4.3 billion at a time when most agency budget are flatlined to respond to concerns about budget deficits. 

Full post as published by Food Safety News on February 28, 2011 (boomark / email).