Re: Fw: Ex-Commissioner of FDA under Criminal Investigation

[Guest guest]

YEP! . . .

That's politics these days!

Rogene

--- _00_ <5678@...> wrote:

> A veterinarian?????

> Sherry

> Ex-Commissioner of FDA

> under Criminal Investigation

>

>

> From foodconsumer.org

>

>

> L.AWS & REG.

>

> Ex-Commissioner of FDA under Criminal

> Investigation

>

>

>

>

http://www.foodconsumer.org/777/8/Ex-Commissioner_of_FDA_under_Criminal_Investig\

ation_.shtml

>

> By Kathy

> Apr 29, 2006, 16:17

>

>

>

> Lester M. Crawford, D.V.M., Ph.D. FDA Commissioner

> 7/18/2005 - 9/23/2005

>

>

> April 29 (foodconsumer.org) - Dr. Lester Crawford,

> ex-commissioner of the Food and Drug

> Administration is

> under criminal investigation by a federal grand

> jury

> over suspicions of financial skullduggery and for

> making false statements to the Congress. His

> lawyer,

> Barbara Van Gelder, confirmed that Dr Crawford was

> the

> target of the investigation, but declined to go

> into

> the details of the charges.

>

> According to a transcript, Ms Van Gelder told a

> federal magistrate in a telephone hearing that she

> would instruct her client to invoke his Fifth

> Amendment right against compelled

> self-incrimination

> if he was asked to describe the decisions taken by

> the

> FDA in his tenure.

>

> Dr. Crawford was due to be questioned under oath

> on

> Thursday, but Ms Van Gelder asked for a delay on

> Wednesday and said that he would invoke his Fifth

> Amendment rights, The New York Times reported.

>

> Dr Crawford resigned from his post in September,

> less

> than three months after the Senate confirmed him.

> He

> had said at that time that it was time for someone

> else to lead the agency. One of the most

> controversial

> issues during Dr Crawford's tenure was the

> application

> by Barr Laboratory to market the emergency

> contraceptive Plan B as an over-the-counter drug.

>

> Barr had applied for giving Plan B an OTC status

> three

> years ago and despite secretary of health and

> human

> services, O. Leavitt's assurances that FDA

> would decide on the Plan B application by

> September

> 2005, the issue was allowed to slide.

>

> A month after Dr Crawford resigned, financial

> disclosure forms released by the Department of

> Health

> and Human Services revealed that in 2004 either

> Dr.

> Crawford or his wife, had dealt in

> shares of

> a company, which was under the agency's

> regulation. Dr

> Crawford was the deputy commissioner and acting

> commissioner of the FDA when these transactions

> took

> place.

>

> The criminal investigation report was confirmed

> during

> a court hearing in a lawsuit over the F.D.A.'s

> inaction on Plan B. The Center for Reproductive

> Rights, an advocacy group had brought the suit

> against

> the FDA alleging that the repeated delays were

> politically motivated.

>

> Such suits are generally quickly dismissed, but a

> federal judge allowed the case to proceed. He also

> granted permission to the center to interview top

> F.D.A. officials, including Dr. Crawford. Many

> abortion rights activists and lawmakers felt that

> the

> delay in Plan B's approval was political, but Dr

> Crawford and other FDA officials have maintained

> that

> the reasons were " scientific and legal. "

>

> Now Ms. Van Gelder has told Magistrate Judge

> Viktor V.

> Pohorelsky of the District Court for the Eastern

> District of New York that Justice Department

> lawyers

> would represent Dr Crawford in the reproductive

> rights

> suit.

>

> According to the aforementioned transcript, she

> added

> that the " issue of his financial disclosures is

> within

> the grand jury. "

>

> Commenting on the involvement of the Justice

> Department lawyers, Simon Heller, a lawyer for the

> reproductive rights center, said " It would be

> remarkable if the Justice Department was

> conducting a

> criminal investigation of Plan B and at the same

> time

> asserting in a civil case that everything done was

> normal. "

>

> Dr. Crawford did not respond to The Times'

> messages

> for comments, while FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Quinn

> chose not to comment on the issue.

>

> Plan B is an emergency contraception pill that is

> designed to prevent pregnancy if a woman has

> forgotten

> to take more than 2 pills in a month. It can also

> reduce the chances of pregnancy after unprotected

> sex.

> It is a valuable backup in case of a condom

> breaking

> or forced assault.

>

> Plan B is not related to the abortion pill RU-486

> and

> does not work in already pregnant women. The pill

> works by stopping the release of an egg from the

> ovary, or preventing the fertilization of the egg.

> It

> is made up of the hormone levonorgestrel, which

> has

> been used for birth control methods over the last

> 35

> years. However, Plan B has a larger dose of

> levonorgestrel than found in an ordinary birth

> control

> pill.

>

> The FDA approved Plan B for use as an emergency

> contraceptive, which has very few side effects.

> When

> present, these manifest themselves as nausea,

> abdominal pain, tiredness, headache, dizziness, or

> breast tenderness. It must be stressed that Plan B

> is

> just that - a second plan if your regular birth

> control methods fail.

>

>

> © 2004-2005 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise

> specified.

>

>

>

>

>