THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET SATURDAY, March 14, 2009
WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Barack Obama Announces Key FDA Appointments and Tougher Food Safety Measures
WASHINGTON – In his weekly address,
President Barack Obama announced the appointments of Dr. Margaret
Hamburg as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Dr.
Joshua Sharfstein as the Principal Deputy Commissioner, as well as the
creation of a new Food Safety Working Group. This Food Safety Working
Group will be chaired by the Secretaries of Health and Human Services
and the Department of Agriculture and it will coordinate with other
agencies and senior officials to advise the President on improving
coordination throughout the government, examining and upgrading food
safety laws, and enforcing laws that will keep the American people safe.
In addition, the President also announced two other measures to protect
the American people. The Department of Agriculture will close a
loophole to prevent diseased cows from entering the food supply. And,
the government will invest in the FDA to substantially increase the
number of food inspectors and modernize food safety labs.
President Obama announced his appointments of the following individuals today:
Margaret "Peggy" Hamburg
Dr. Hamburg is a nationally and internationally recognized
leader in public health and medicine, and an authority on global
health, public health systems, infectious disease, bioterrorism and
emergency preparedness. She served as the Nuclear Threat Initiative's
founding Vice President for the Biological Program. Before joining NTI,
she was the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to this, she served for
six years as the Commissioner of Health for the City of New York and as
the Assistant Director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.
Joshua "Josh" Sharfstein
Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein is Commissioner of Health for the
City of Baltimore. He also serves as chair of the board of four
affiliated nonprofit agencies. He has been recognized as a national
leader for his efforts to protect children from unsafe jewelry and
over-the-counter medication, and ensuring Americans with disabilities
have access to prescription drugs. He is a member of the Board on
Population Health and Public Health Practice of the Institute of
Medicine.
View the full address.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Washington, DC
I’ve often said that I don’t believe government has the answer to
every problem or that it can do all things for all people. We are a
nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are
certain things that we can’t do on our own. There are certain things
only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the
foods we eat, and the medicines we take, are safe and don’t cause us
harm. That is the mission of our Food and Drug Administration and it is
a mission shared by our Department of Agriculture, and a variety of
other agencies and offices at just about every level of government.
The men and women who inspect our foods and test the safety of our
medicines are chemists and physicians, veterinarians and pharmacists.
It is because of the work they do each and every day that the United
States is one of the safest places in the world to buy groceries at a
supermarket or pills at a drugstore. Unlike citizens of so many other
countries, Americans can trust that there is a strong system in place
to ensure that the medications we give our children will help them get
better, not make them sick; and that a family dinner won’t end in a
trip to the doctor’s office.
But in recent years, we’ve seen a number of problems with the food
making its way to our kitchen tables. In 2006, it was contaminated
spinach. In 2008, it was salmonella in peppers and possibly tomatoes.
And just this year, bad peanut products led to hundreds of illnesses
and cost nine people their lives – a painful reminder of how tragic the
consequences can be when food producers act irresponsibly and
government is unable to do its job. Worse, these incidents reflect a
troubling trend that’s seen the average number of outbreaks from
contaminated produce and other foods grow to nearly 350 a year – up
from 100 a year in the early 1990s.
Part of the reason is that many of the laws and regulations governing
food safety in America have not been updated since they were written in
the time of Teddy Roosevelt. It’s also because our system of inspection
and enforcement is spread out so widely among so many people that it’s
difficult for different parts of our government to share information,
work together, and solve problems. And it’s also because the FDA has
been underfunded and understaffed in recent years, leaving the agency
with the resources to inspect just 7,000 of our 150,000 food processing
plants and warehouses each year. That means roughly 95% of them go
uninspected.
That is a hazard to public health. It is unacceptable. And it will
change under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Hamburg, whom I am
appointing today as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.
From her research on infectious disease at the National Institutes of
Health to her work on public health at the Department of Health and
Human Services to her leadership on biodefense at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative, Dr. Hamburg brings to this vital position not only a
reputation of integrity but a record of achievement in making Americans
safer and more secure. Dr. Hamburg was one of the youngest people ever
elected to the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. And
her two children have a unique distinction of their own. Their birth
certificates feature her name twice – once as their mother, and once as
New York City Health Commissioner. In that role, Dr. Hamburg brought a
new life to a demoralized agency, leading an internationally-recognized
initiative that cut the tuberculosis rate by nearly half, and
overseeing food safety in our nation’s largest city.
Joining her as Principal Deputy Commissioner will be Dr. Joshua
Sharfstein. As Baltimore’s Health Commissioner, Dr. Sharfstein has been
recognized as a national leader for his efforts to protect children
from unsafe over-the-counter cough and cold medications. And he’s
designed an award-winning program to ensure that Americans with
disabilities had access to prescription drugs.
Their critical work – and the critical work of the FDA they lead – will
be part of a larger effort taken up by a new Food Safety Working Group
I am creating. This Working Group will bring together cabinet
secretaries and senior officials to advise me on how we can upgrade our
food safety laws for the 21st century; foster coordination throughout
government; and ensure that we are not just designing laws that will
keep the American people safe, but enforcing them. And I expect this
group to report back to me with recommendations as soon as possible.
As part of our commitment to public health, our Agriculture
Department is closing a loophole in the system to ensure that diseased
cows don’t find their way into the food supply. And we are also
strengthening our food safety system and modernizing our labs with a
billion dollar investment, a portion of which will go toward
significantly increasing the number of food inspectors, helping ensure
that the FDA has the staff and support they need to protect the food we
eat.
In the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your
President, but as a parent. When I heard peanut products were being
contaminated earlier this year, I immediately thought of my 7-year old
daughter, Sasha, who has peanut butter sandwiches for lunch probably
three times a week. No parent should have to worry that their child is
going to get sick from their lunch. Just as no family should have to
worry that the medicines they buy will cause them harm. Protecting the
safety of our food and drugs is one of the most fundamental
responsibilities government has, and, with the outstanding team I am
announcing today, it is a responsibility that I intend to uphold in the
months and years to come.
Thank you.
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