A Washington state industry group says it has gathered enough signatures to place an initiative on the ballot in the next election that would allow the state's voters to decide the fate of Washington's ergonomics standard.

FDA may scale back some of the requirements in its controversial proposal to implement the bioterrorism law's mandate that importers provide the agency with prior notice before food shipments enter the country, according to an FDA official.

FDA's new internal task force to curb counterfeit drug imports likely will make many of its recommendations based on a report due out this September from another anti-counterfeiting task force formed about a year ago between FDA and the drug industry, called the Product Surety Working Groups Initiative, according to a source familiar with the group.

Two years after FDA gave HHS a proposal creating a straightforward system for managing drugs imported through the mail, the department has yet to take action, despite the increasing number of counterfeit drugs imported into the country, according to industry and congressional sources.

From weight loss management to money for Hawaii's Medicaid program, a slew of Medicare odds and ends that gained last-minute passage in the Senate Medicare plan must now be addressed by conferees hammering out a final Medicare reform bill.

Industry lawyers are requesting that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) withdraw the accreditation for a voluntary standards-setting committee (Z365) that is in the process of crafting an ergonomics rule, charging the committee violated ANSI rules.

A key House lawmaker has launched a Republican bid to stymie a proposed Medicare policy change that would cut hospital payments by an estimated $160 million in fiscal year 2004.

In a major policy shift, the nation's largest seniors organization is willing to support legislation allowing pharmacists and wholesalers to reimport prescription drugs from Canada, without broad HHS certification, an AARP official told Inside CMS.

The House vote easing restrictions on pharmaceutical reimportation may force Medicare conferees to reach compromise solution that accommodates safety concerns, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters July 25, even as Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), a Medicare conferee, said he remains opposed to the measure.

The House fiscal year 2004 Labor appropriations bill includes report language criticizing OSHA for its “lack of progress” on a rule that would require employers to pay for workers' personal protective equipment (PPE).

Congress may extend the application of OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard to hospitals currently not covered by the regulation this year.

The Senate plans to adopt the House BioShield funding provision during conference, according to a key congressional source.

A major effort by Philip Morris to generate congressional momentum behind tobacco legislation combining new FDA authority with a federal buyout is likely to stall in the House, and may face obstacles in the Senate.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) is asking dietary supplement makers who advertise their products as “ephedra free” to provide safety information about their products. Durbin charges that supplement makers are substituting chemical ingredients similar to ephedra in their products.

Medicare conferees today (July 24) reached a tentative deal on the bulk of differences between the House and Senate regulatory reform packages.

In the latest missive on Medicare reform legislation, a group of centrist Senate Democrats and House Blue Dogs have teamed up to urge congressional leaders to forge a conference report adopting key elements of the Senate-passed plan in order to gain strong bipartisan backing rather than a slim majority.

The Senate health panel unanimously passed patient safety legislation July 23 after committee chair Judd Gregg (R-NH) and ranking Democrat Edward Kennedy (MA) brokered a compromise hours before the markup.

Late Wednesday (July 23), the Senate unanimously passed a modified version of legislation passed earlier by the Senate health committee that would reinstate FDA's controversial pediatric rule.

House Republicans passed three OSHA reform bills on a party-line vote July 24, despite Democratic charges the bills would help employers avoid OSHA citations and create additional costs to the government.

FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan resisted lawmakers' efforts to get the agency on record as needing more statutory authority to regulate dietary supplements during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday (July 24).