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# Reps Say FDA Slow to Implement Lab Safety
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/reps-say-fda-slow-to-implement-lab-safety/
- Published: 2016-05-19T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T21:04:07.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5135711

Reps. **Fred Upton** (R-MI), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and **Tim Murphy** (R-PA), chairman of the committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, say that FDA is lagging behind other agencies in taking staffing and budgeting steps to address laboratory safety and security. In a 5/18 [letter](https://energycommerce.house.gov/news-center/letters/letters-fda-and-nih-lab-safety?ref=fdaweb.com) to FDA commissioner **Robert Califf**, the two say that the Office of Laboratory Sciences at FDA and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Division of Occupational Health and Safety at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) “should have adequate resources, a direct report to the agency head, and be operated and funded independently of other program management activities.”

The CDC, they report, has established the Office of the Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety with a budget of $14.5 million for FY 2016 and 34 of 41 full-time positions filled.

“In contrast,” they say, “FDA has not yet formulated the budget request for its Office of Laboratory Safety, or the level of staffing…. We note that the CDC’s associate director for laboratory science and safety reports directly to the director of the CDC. However, in contrast, FDA staff reported that the director of FDA’s Office of Laboratory Safety currently reports to the commissioner through the Office of Chief Scientist, although the reporting structure may not yet be finalized.”

The letter raises concerns about staffing and funding for the laboratory safety function and asks Califf to respond to these questions: 

- the level of funding and staffing for the Office of Laboratory Science and Safety that FDA will commit to for the next fiscal year budget, with a justification for the funding and staffing levels;
- whether FDA agrees with an External Laboratory Safety Workgroup recommendation that the source of funding should be independent from other FDA Centers or Offices, and whether the agency will commit to independent funding for the Office of Laboratory Safety;
- whether FDA will commit to having the director of laboratory safety report directly to the commissioner;
- whether FDA will commit to producing for the committee a written report of its internal investigation into the root causes and system weaknesses that contributed to the lapse related to the unaccountable smallpox vials discovered in 7/2014; and
- whether FDA will commit to issuing a written procedure for the safe transport and securing of select agent materials on-site at FDA or between FDA laboratories, such as when select agents are discovered in locations not registered with the Federal Select Agent Program.