Bernie Sanders Opposes New Big Pharma-Loved FDA Leader
Ties to Big Pharma are just too strong
Health Science
Big Pharma won big today when the Senate nearly unanimously approved Dr. Robert Califf as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And not everyone is happy about it.
Sanders blocked Califf in late January over his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Sanders pointed to a 2014 financial disclosure that showed Califf’s salary at Duke University was underwritten partly by funding from large drugmakers, including Eli Lilly and Merck, and which showed that pharmaceutical companies helped fund research studies he oversaw. In Sanders’ view, all of this proved that Califf could not impartially lead the nation’s health watchdog.
Sanders said at the time:
“Dr. Califf’s extensive ties to the pharmaceutical industry give me no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.” [2]
During his confirmation hearing last fall, Califf acknowledged that the drug industry commonly funds such studies, but stated that that contracts protected the independence of investigators to publish research outcomes, regardless of the findings.
Said Califf:
“I think if you look at my record, I’ve never been a proponent of lowering standards. If anything, I’ve argued for raising them. I think I’ve been staunch in that regard.”
Califf said that drug companies, researchers, patients, and the government must work together, as uncomfortable as that may be, out of necessity.
He added:
“To advance, we must find common ground with industry and academia on the science without compromising [the] fundamental role of the FDA,” he said. [3]
Over the past several days, those opposed to Califf’s nomination desperately pleaded with their colleagues in speeches on the Senate floor to vote against him, arguing that the agency had approved far too many opioid painkillers and ignored its own panel experts, who had periodically advised against approving Califf to head the FDA.
Read: Need A Link Between Federal Reps And Big Pharma Companies? Here It Is.
Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said in a speech on Tuesday:
“The FDA stands for Food and Drug Administration, but over the last 20 years, it really stands for “fostering drug addiction. We have to have an honest discussion about the role that agency is playing.”
He added:
“It is not really a debate over Dr. Califf at all. This is a debate over the agency.”
Regardless of what or whom the debate concerned, their attempts to block Califf was to no avail.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said in a statement:
“Dr. Califf is the right person with the right experience to build on the FDA’s unsurpassed record of protecting public health while encouraging innovation and the introduction of new life-saving therapies to the market.”
Sources:
Robert Califf image credit: PABLO MARTINEZ/AP
Bernie Sanders image credit
 | Julie Fidler has written hundreds of articles on key world topics such as health, drugs, and law. She is also the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. Oh, and she loves to take care of two ridiculously- spoiled cats in her free time. |
FDA = Fraud and Death Administration. It has a BIG conflict of interest in ‘overseeing’ both food AND drugs. Pushing drugs also requires the suppression of healthful foods and healthful supplements (vitamins, herbs, minerals) that can cure many conditions and have already proved SAFE over the years.
Pharma-pusher Califf said: “To advance, we must find common ground with industry and academia on
the science without compromising [the] fundamental role of the FDA.”
Yeah, right. We already KNOW that corporations REPRESS truthful studies and HARASS scientists who publish such studies, even ruining their careers.
We also know that immoral people at Monsanto et al. have merged their bioweapons/GMOs/agrichemicals corporations with pharmaceutical corporations. – Feel secure yet?
Had enough corporatist-fascism yet?
Business & Politics as usual….. Nobody thinks much of the FDA anyway. That department has always been in the pocket of the elite.
The question, then, is what will WE do about it. We MUST elect officials who are for the PEOPLE, not for the corporations. This year, there are only two such candidates – Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein. Of those two, only Bernie is a viable candidate.
You must be kidding…..Did Socialism work anywhere in the world? What makes you think it will work here? The fact is that ALL POLITICIANS LIE! If you want a true Patriot vote for a Constitutionalist/Conservative and write in a vote if you have to…rather than voting for an evil doer corporate greedy puppet or a New World Order lame duck such as Sanders.
There’s no country that I know of that has full socialism and absolutely none that have socialism in the classic definition. All are mixtures of capitalism and socialism. The US has such a mixture, but in wrong proportions. We peons have social security, medicare, food programs, and the like – and the Rich have millions of dollars in subsidies (from OUR money) for contaminating our bodies, air, water, soil, and food, i.e., for destroying our lives and planet. Moreover the capitalist (predatory capitalism, corporatist-fascism) part of our economic system distributes all the wealth to the top, which historically is an incentive to blood-soaked revolution. Right now a mere TWENTY Americans have more wealth than the poorest 152 MILLION Americans combined. Think on those things.
The United States of America did not become the greatest country in the world because it was wrong in its economic policies…..You should know that Socialism is the forerunner to Communism and if you think it is so great why not take a long sabbatical to China and check it out. Let us see how you like it. Report back in about a year or two.
NO, it is NOT the forerunner to Communism. There are MANY different forms of socialism. Now go educate yourself and quit being a fool.
Did you run out of credible words to say and resorted to name calling as do all liberals…..Dr. Michael Savage’s definition of liberalism is “A mental disorder!”
I.e., Michael ‘Weiner’ Savage uses name calling and is banned from the UK due to his hate talk. Now run along.