Democrats Call for Hearings on 'Unusual' Plan B Decisions

Feminist Daily News Wire

Thursday 17 November 2005

Following the release of the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) report on the 'unusual' circumstances surrounding the handling of the application for over-the-counter sales of Plan B, 18 House members sent a letter to Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, asking for further investigation into practices at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under Mark McClellan. In the letter, legislators cite the FDA's inability to provide records from McClellan's office as a possible violation of federal records management law. Further, they wrote that "an agency that does not retain the written correspondence and emails of its top officials impairs the ability of Congress and the public to understand the basis for important decisions and hold responsible officials accountable."

The letter asks that the destruction of written communications and emails at the FDA be investigated, both during McClellan's tenure and in the present practices, and asks that Leavitt speak out against the opacity and inappropriate political influence at the FDA indicated by the GAO report.