File photo: The headquarters of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland 4 November 2009.
Jason Reed | Reuters
Trump administration attempt to reduce the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as they recently employed employees who review the safety of food components, medical equipment and other products were fired.
Probation workers across the FDA received reports Saturday evening that their work was being eliminated, according to three FDA employees who spoke to the Associated Press on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The total number of eliminated positions was not clear on Sunday, but the fires seemed to focus on employees in the centers of the Food Agency, medical equipment and tobacco products – which includes the supervision of electronic cigarettes. It was not clear whether the FDA employees who examine the drugs were excluded from their dismissal.
On Friday, the US Health and Human Department of Human Services announced plans to light 5,200 probation workers in its agencies, which include the National Institute of Health, FDA and disease control and disease prevention centers.
People who spoke to AP on a condition of anonymity on Friday said the number of test workers to be fired by the CDC will reach nearly 1,300. But since the afternoon of the early Sunday, about 700 people had received notifications, according to three people who spoke on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They said that none of the CDC holidays affected young doctors and scholars who follow disease in what is known as the epidemic intelligence service.
FDA is based on the outskirts of Maryland outside Washington and hires nearly 20,000 people. It has long been a target of the newly -resolved Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy Jr., who last year accused the agency for the development of a “public health struggle” of failing to approve of unproven treatments such as psychhedelics, stem cells and Chelim therapy.
Kennedy has also called for the elimination of thousands of chemicals and colors from American foods. But the cuts in the FDA include employees responsible for reviewing the safety of new food additives and ingredients, according to a FDA employee familiar with fires.
A HHS spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday afternoon.
Nearly half of the FDA budget $ 6.9 billion comes from tariffs paid by companies arranging the agency, including drug and medicine equipment manufacturers, which allows the agency to hire additional scientists to quickly review products. The elimination of these positions will not reduce government spending.
An former FDA official said the cutting of the latest employment could be fiery, eliminating employees who tend to be younger and have more up -to -date technical skills. The FDA workforce is drawn to older workers who have been in the agency for a decades, and the government responsibility office noted in 2022 that the FDA “has historically faced challenges in recruiting and maintaining staff” because of the best money in the private sector.
“You want to bring new blood,” said Peter Pitts, a former Associate Commissioner of FDA under President George W. Bush. “You want people with new ideas, greater enthusiasm and latest thought about technology.”
Mitch Zeller, former FDA director for tobacco, said fires are a way to “demoralize and undermine the spirit of federal workforce.”
“The combined effect of what they are trying to do is destroy the ability to recruit and keep talent,” Zeller said.
The FDA inspection force has been tense especially in recent years after a wave of departure during the Covid-19 pandemic, and many of the agency’s current inspectors are recent employment. It was not clear immediately if those employees were excluded.
FDA inspectors are responsible for overseeing thousands of food, drugs, tobacco and medical equipment worldwide, although the PA reported last year that the agency faced
The agency’s inspection force has also been criticized for not moving faster to capture the latest problems that include infant formula, baby nutrition and eye glances.