A leading food and health advisory agency has described the mass layoffs at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as “devastating”.
It emerged overnight that the Trump-appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had proceeded with his threatened job cuts at a host of government agencies.
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A raft of media reports suggested the job losses number in the 1,000s, taking in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health and the FDA.
According to Reuters’ sources, security guards were posted outside of the affected office buildings preventing the dismissed workers from entry. An unnamed FDA employee told the news agency that fired staff were given a ‘ticket’ and told to go home.
The “devastating” description was put forward by Dr. Peter Lurie, the president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), as he acknowledged FDA staff had received “termination notices as part of massive layoffs” by the health secretary.
“The cuts are arbitrary, sweeping, and will be devastating to the FDA’s food and medical product programmes, leaving the FDA’s teams who communicate about and prevent foodborne outbreaks, ban dangerous food chemicals, and ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical products scrambling to operate,” Lurie said in a statement.
“This is not transparent, efficient, or effective government: It’s creating fear and chaos.”
Meanwhile, former FDA commissioner Robert Califf took to LinkedIn to voice his frustration over the cuts. His appointment ended in February to be replaced by surgeon-come-scientist and health policy expert, Dr Martin Makary, who took the oath as the new leader yesterday (1 April).
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,” Califf wrote.
“I believe that history will see this a huge mistake. I will be glad if I’m proven wrong, but even then there is no good reason to treat people this way. It will be interesting to hear from the new leadership how they plan to put ‘Humpty Dumpty’ back together again.”
Health Secretary Kennedy Jr. announced last week that 10,000 workers would be laid off, and through voluntary departures the workforce would be reduced from 80,000 to 60,000, according to the BBC.
Some high-profile figures in the FDA were included in the firings or either resigned, as suggested by Reuters’ sources pertaining to Peter Stein, the director of the Office of New Drugs in its Center for Drug Evaluation and Research division. He quit yesterday, the sources said.
Brian King, the head of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products division, was fired, according to an email sent by King to FDA staff seen by Reuters.
Reports also emerged in February that Jim Jones, the head of the FDA’s food division, had stepped down. He was brought in to oversee the restructure of the agency’s Human Foods Program after the organisation was criticised for its role in the infant-formula supply crisis in the country.
Bloomberg said at the time, citing a letter from Jones, that FDA staff had been laid off within the FDA’s food division, describing the cuts as “indiscriminate”.
Kennedy Jr. has launched the Make America Healthy Again campaign to cut obesity, with particular attention focused on ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
The White House has said it planned to cut 3,500 full-time employees at the FDA and 2,400 workers from the CDC, along with 1,200 staff from the National Institutes of Health, according to the BBC.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that FDA staff involved in the government’s response to bird flu had also been fired.
Neither the FDA or CDC had put out statements acknowledging the layoffs at the time of writing. Just Food has approached the agencies for comment.
