Confirmation Of Margaret Hamburg

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, yesterday the Senate confirmed Dr. Margaret ``Peggy'' Hamburg as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, FDA.

Dr. Hamburg comes to the job at a time when our Nation's food safety system is in crisis. In the last couple of years we have seen nationwide outbreaks associated with spinach, tomatoes and peppers, and peanuts and peanut butter. With peanuts, we also saw the biggest food recall in our nation's history as hundreds of companies recalled thousands of products from crackers to ice cream to even pet food. Our food safety problems don't just start and stop at home: we have also seen chemically tainted pet food, milk products, and seafood from China.

It is no secret that our food safety system is in serious trouble. It is all over the headlines. It's also no secret that the FDA the agency responsible for protecting nearly 80 percent of our food hasn't kept up, with its outdated statutes, eroding budgets, and inadequate resources and authorities.

Congress hasn't passed a major food safety bill in decades, and we are seeing the results of that inaction. More than 76 million Americans become sick because of a food-borne illness each year, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die. Companies lose the confidence of their customers and shareholders, and they lose profits. Some experts estimate that the peanut growers will lose $1 billion as a result of the latest outbreak. Kellogg, just one company among hundreds, lost $70 million.

The time for comprehensive food safety reform is long past due. In March, Senator Gregg and I introduced the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, a bipartisan bill that gives the FDA the new authorities and resources it needs to protect our food supply. This bill improves the FDA's capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to food safety problems, whether it's salmonella-tainted peanut butter from Georgia or melamine-spiked baby formula from China.

For the first time in a long time, we are also seeing leadership on food safety from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Food Safety Working Group, led by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, is doing what hasn't been done in decades: taking a comprehensive, coordinated look at the outdated food safety laws on the books and making recommendations on reform.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a first-ever listening session hosted by the White House focused on food safety reform. This was a chance for members of Congress, the administration, consumer groups, and industry to come together and talk about the challenges facing the safety of our food supply as well as the solutions.

Dr. Hamburg, with her public health expertise and impressive record of success as former health commissioner of New York City, is a welcome addition to the working group. I had a chance to meet with Dr. Hamburg before her confirmation. During our meeting, as well as in her confirmation hearing, she made clear her commitment to the long term goal of transforming food safety oversight at FDA to focus on the public health goal of prevention. I am confident that she is the right person to tackle this challenge and others facing the FDA, and to restore morale and public confidence in the agency. I look forward to working with her and the other members of President Obama's food safety working group to enact FDA food safety legislation this year.

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