"We are now in the process of evaluating the science and safety of raw milk cheeses," said John Sheehan director of the F.D.A.'s division of dairy and egg safety at the center for food safety and applied nutrition.
"It's hard to know if this will play out similarly until we have completed our analyses" of Prilosec and Nexium, said Dr. Paul Seligman, the agency's associate center director for safety policy and communication.
"People should turn to Congress and demand a drug safety system that is free from corporate influence--and a distinct center for drug safety". In Graham's eyes, the problem at the FDA is that the same scientists who approve drugs are the ones charged with deciding whether or not they are safe enough to remain on the market when problems crop up.
Event participants are also being evacuated from the Curtis Culwell Center for their safety.
"When we tested the system in Topeka there was a 57 percent reduction in errors," said Dr. James Bagian, director of the V.A.'s national center for patient safety.
Michael P. Doyle, director of the center for food safety at the University of Georgia in Griffin, said that a variety of virulent bacteria and viruses could be used to contaminate food.
Last month, the University of California, Davis and the Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Shaanxi Province started laying the groundwork for establishing a joint research center for food safety in China.
"This is not just about dollars," said Dr. Jerry Avorn, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the author of "Powerful Medicines". "It's a cultural issue in which the agency feels it can't pressure drug makers". Now lawmakers are considering proposals for a center for drug safety that would be independent of the agency's new drug reviewers.
The U.K.'s Medical Research Council is launching a new center for drug safety sciences that will include a toxicology training program.
The Center For Auto Safety: Without this watchdog group holding accountable the auto industry and its federal regulators, tens of millions of cars would not have been recalled over the past four decades.
