The layoffs of the FDA could increase drug costs and erode food safety
Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced wide -ranging cuts at federal health agencies, including Food and Drug Administration, which would eliminate duplicative services and paper drug dealers.But in the interviews with more than a dozen members of the current and ex -FDA staff, a different picture of the effects of the vast scope of the layoffs emerged which in the end would reduce the workforce of the 20 percent agency. Among these are experts who have sailed a labyrinth of laws to determine if an expensive drug can be sold as a generic at low cost; laboratory scientists who have tested food and drugs for contaminants or fatal bacteria; specialists of the veterinary division that investigate the transmission of avian influence; and researchers who have monitored television a...