Members, witnesses warn FDA staff cuts imperil food, drug and device safety

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform heard united concern that recent mass firings at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration have reduced the agency’s ability to perform essential work on food, drugs and medical products.

Ranking Member Subramaniam warned the committee that the new administration “purged thousands of FDA workers,” and said cuts to inspection and review staffs are already hampering core functions. “These health cuts will kill people,” Subramaniam said during opening remarks.

Nut graf: Lawmakers from both parties and several witnesses told the committee that removing experienced scientists and program staff undermines inspections, slows regulatory reviews and decreases the agency’s capacity to respond to outbreaks, recalls and supply-chain threats.

Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler told the committee the cuts were “devastating, haphazard, thoughtless, and chaotic,” and said the loss of institutional knowledge risks longer drug-review times and weaker surveillance. “We are less safe today,” Kessler testified, adding that laboratory and inspection support functions have been disrupted.

Witnesses described concrete impacts. Kessler and other panelists said communication offices, laboratory purchasing and administrative support for inspectors were impaired, forcing remaining staff to spend time on nontechnical tasks. Richard Williams, senior affiliated scholar at the Mercatus Center, told members that past crises — including infant-formula supply problems and avian flu responses — depended on the expertise that the agency has now lost.

Several members pressed for specifics. Rep. Presley said the agency had missed deadlines on long-expected regulatory actions and raised concerns about the closure or pause of specialized labs that test for contaminants. Rep. Bell warned that a St. Louis FDA testing laboratory — described during the hearing as among the agency’s most important drug-testing facilities — had its lease canceled and later reinstated, and that any interruption there could hamper detection of contaminants in medicines and food.

Lawmakers and witnesses also discussed the downstream effects: longer times for new drugs and generics to reach patients, reduced inspections of foreign and domestic manufacturing sites, and fewer communications to alert the public about recalls and outbreaks. Kessler said the agency had lost “thousand person years of expertise in a few weeks” and cautioned that the damage could be long lasting.

Ending: Members on both sides urged Congress to consider remedies that preserve the agency’s inspection and review capacity. Several asked for briefing materials and follow-up responses from HHS and FDA on staffing levels, inspection backlogs and contingency plans for monitoring food and drug safety.