Bush Should Name FDA, NIH Heads, Washington Post Editorial Says

The Bush administration should "go ahead" and appoint Alastair Wood and Anthony Fauci as the heads of the FDA and NIH, respectively, a Washington Post editorial states. Wood, a Vanderbilt University professor of pharmacology who has advised the FDA, is supported both by Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who often advises the administration on science issues, and Senate Democrats, who have said they would oppose any candidate for FDA administrator who comes from the industries the agency regulates. The Post notes that Wood has, "to his credit," said that there is a "need to monitor drug safety more closely." Fauci, a "preeminent AIDS researcher" and director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has become the "de facto voice of authority" on the anthrax and smallpox research, as well as the government's response to bioterrorism attacks. "Given the degree to which research into infectious diseases, their prevention and containment will be significant in any battle plan against bioterrorism, that kind of personal authority would be an enormous boon to the science agency," the Post says. The "biggest immediate task" facing the FDA and NIH is "figuring out how to deploy the enormous budget increases" the agencies are likely to receive in President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget, the Post says. The editorial concludes, "To spend the money intelligently will take strong leaders. The White House should put them in place" (Washington Post, 2/4).