Wednesday, February 08, 2006

We smell a rat!

In the never ending power struggle between government oversight over Big Pahrma, former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Lester M. Crawford, whose sudden resignation last fall after less than three months in office remains a mystery, has joined a lobbying firm that specializes in food and drug issues.

Crawford is listed as "senior counsel" to the firm Policy Directions Inc. Among the companies and organizations listed as clients are Altria Group Inc. (formerly Philip Morris Companies), Merck & Co. Inc., the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA,) the Grocery Manufacturers of America and the American Feed Industry Association.

When he resigned in September, Crawford said simply that it was time for someone else to lead the agency. Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) have asked the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general to look into whether Crawford resigned because of an undisclosed financial conflict of interest.

Crawford is barred from lobbying former colleagues at the FDA for a year, but he can give clients strategic advice about food and drug issues and can lobby members of Congress.

Steve - hmmm...a joke? No. Unfortunately it happens all the time. Ah, Washington politics.

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