Pro-life leader urges Bush to name new FDA commissioner

Aug 17, 2006 / 22:00 pm

President George Bush should name a new commissioner to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to replace Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, the current acting commissioner, says an international pro-life leader.

Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, claims that von Eschenbach in unable to act as an independent authority. He claims the current commissioner is too easily swayed by political pressure and it is the reason why he is allowing Barr Pharmaceuticals to submit a new application for over-the-counter use of its Plan B abortion drug.

Fr. Euteneuer claims the doctor is “kowtowing to Senator Hillary Clinton (D—NY)” which “disqualifies him from being an independent commissioner for the FDA.”

“Barr Pharmaceutical’s Plan B is an abortion-causing drug that contains high doses of a powerful synthetic hormone. Low doses of this hormone when used for ‘contraception’ are only available with a prescription. It makes no sense for the FDA, under Dr. von Eschenbach, to allow the higher dosage Plan B to be available without a prescription."

He said von Eschenbach should be replaced with a medical authority, “who puts the health of the American people first, and does not bow to pressure from politicians and pharmaceutical corporations.”