Public Citizen团体称：美国卫生福利部(Hhs)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said on Thursday that it has alerted US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson that the agency's meetings with a recently formed emergency preparedness task force of a pharmaceutical industry trade group is in violation of federal transparency laws.
In mid-October, The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) formed a task force in order to give the US government a place to turn for questions and requests regarding the industry's role in combatting bioterrorism. Composed of top executives from some of the industry's biggest firms, and headed by Aventis Chairman and CEO Richard Markham, the task force has already met several times with Thompson.
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In a letter to the HHS Secretary, Washington DC-based Public Citizen asserts that since the task force has been acting as an advisory committee for the government agency, it falls under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
Enacted in 1972, this act requires that before a federal agency utilizes an advisory committee, the agency must set forth the "clearly defined purpose" of the committee and must "require the membership of the advisory committee to be fairly balanced."
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Additionally, all advisory meetings must be announced in the Federal Register and are required to be open to the public.
"To our knowledge, none of this is going on," Director of Public Citizen's health research group and author of the letter Dr. Sidney Wolfe said in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.
"Whatever [PhRMA] is there for...is being done in, as best as we can tell, a very secretive manner," he said, adding that a committee made up exclusively of PhRMA members is not fairly balanced. "And given the enormous financial and other stakes there...all of that needs to be completely public and transparent."
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While Dr. Wolfe notes in his letter that HHS "is taking on the difficult job of determining how to protect our nation from the threat of bioterrorism," he wrote that "at the same time, the rule of law must be observed."
"This is a violation of federal law by the government," Dr. Wolfe told Reuters Health. "And if [HHS] doesn't change its ways we'll be forced to sue them," he added, echoing the threat of a court challenge presented to Thompson in the letter.
An HHS spokesperson told Reuters Health that he is not aware of the letter, but added that the agency "certainly intends to be within the law."
-New York Newsroom 212 273 1700, 百拇医药
In mid-October, The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) formed a task force in order to give the US government a place to turn for questions and requests regarding the industry's role in combatting bioterrorism. Composed of top executives from some of the industry's biggest firms, and headed by Aventis Chairman and CEO Richard Markham, the task force has already met several times with Thompson.
, 百拇医药
In a letter to the HHS Secretary, Washington DC-based Public Citizen asserts that since the task force has been acting as an advisory committee for the government agency, it falls under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).
Enacted in 1972, this act requires that before a federal agency utilizes an advisory committee, the agency must set forth the "clearly defined purpose" of the committee and must "require the membership of the advisory committee to be fairly balanced."
, 百拇医药
Additionally, all advisory meetings must be announced in the Federal Register and are required to be open to the public.
"To our knowledge, none of this is going on," Director of Public Citizen's health research group and author of the letter Dr. Sidney Wolfe said in a telephone interview with Reuters Health.
"Whatever [PhRMA] is there for...is being done in, as best as we can tell, a very secretive manner," he said, adding that a committee made up exclusively of PhRMA members is not fairly balanced. "And given the enormous financial and other stakes there...all of that needs to be completely public and transparent."
, 百拇医药
While Dr. Wolfe notes in his letter that HHS "is taking on the difficult job of determining how to protect our nation from the threat of bioterrorism," he wrote that "at the same time, the rule of law must be observed."
"This is a violation of federal law by the government," Dr. Wolfe told Reuters Health. "And if [HHS] doesn't change its ways we'll be forced to sue them," he added, echoing the threat of a court challenge presented to Thompson in the letter.
An HHS spokesperson told Reuters Health that he is not aware of the letter, but added that the agency "certainly intends to be within the law."
-New York Newsroom 212 273 1700, 百拇医药