Durbin Meets With FDA Commissioner, Dr. Makary
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with the Food and Drug Administration’s Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary. During their meeting, Durbin pressed Commissioner Makary on FDA’s inadequate regulation of addictive and harmful e-cigarettes, which are used by two million children in the United States. For years, FDA has failed to follow the law that requires an e-cigarette to first prove it is “appropriate for the protection of public health” to gain market entry. A federal court ruled that FDA was required to finish reviewing all such e-cigarette applications by September 9, 2021, but the agency has yet to complete these application reviews. Compounding the problem is this Administration’s decision to force out thousands of employees tasked with regulating tobacco products and protecting the public’s health from the harmful effects of tobacco use.
They also discussed the pharmaceutical industry’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising and Durbin’s bipartisan legislation with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to empower patients and reduce prescription drug costs by requiring price disclosures in these commercials, as well as Durbin’s bipartisan legislation with Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) to address deceptive pharmaceutical promotions by telehealth companies on social media influencers.
Despite anti-choice efforts to ban access to abortion nationwide, Durbin urged the Commissioner to consider the overwhelming evidence of safety associated with mifepristone—a drug approved more than two decades ago by FDA for terminating a pregnancy up to 10 weeks of gestation, and often used to help women suffering from miscarriages. The drug is safer than both penicillin and Viagara, but comments by President Trump and HHS Secretary Kennedy have unfortunately put the future of the drug’s availability in doubt. Lastly, Durbin pressed Commissioner Makary about the Trump Administration’s decisions to restrict access and undermine the scientific process for vaccines.
“As head of FDA, the Commissioner must make life or death decisions. Every decision impacts the public health of our country, and Americans should be able to trust the medications they take and the food they eat. I made it clear to Dr. Makary that I will continue to press him to stand up to Big Tobacco and e-cigarette companies, as well as the President and HHS Secretary, when needed to protect the health and wellbeing of Americans,” said Durbin.
A photo of the meeting is available here.
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