Daily News

OSHA's highly anticipated National Advisory Committee on Ergonomics (NACE) will meet for the first time this week (Jan. 22) and sources say that American Society of Safety Engineers-nominee Carter Kerk will likely be named chairman at the meeting.

In its inaugural meeting, the 15-member panel will be addressed by OSHA Administrator John Henshaw and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Director John Howard. In addition, the committee will be briefed on OSHA's activities on ergonomics.

FDA's Anti-infective Drugs Advisory Committee says antibiotics used in humans as a sole therapy likely should be more strictly limited for use in food animals.

The committee is gathering information to make recommendations to FDA as the agency further develops guidance that establishes a new scheme for assessing the risk of animal-drug use leading to antibiotic resistance in humans.

Committee members heard heated debate this month between the animal-drug industry and those who want antibiotics used in humans to be banned from routine use in animals.

Berlin -- European Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler says a U.S. decision to challenge a de facto moratorium on biotechnology approvals in the World Trade Organization would have no positive result for the United States even if it were to win the legal case.

A key consumer group is touting legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) in late December as a way to plug holes in FDA's authority to regulate transgenic animals. While FDA and the biotechnology industry say the agency's authority is adequate, the consumer group says Congress should clarify FDA's authority to address ecological impacts of transgenic animals and make the regulatory process transparent.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week said a pending White House decision on whether to bring suit in the World Trade Organization over the European Union's moratorium on approval of new biotechnology products should not be tied to U.S. efforts to win European allies for its Iraq policy.

But Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IA) did not endorse mounting a legal challenge, arguing there remained a slim hope that diplomacy could lead the EU to lift the moratorium. He also cast doubt on whether a legal case would lead to a lifting of the moratorium.

Prospects appear dim for a new European Union initiative to break a deadlock on World Trade Organization talks on access to medicines, as developing countries, the World Health Organization and health activists criticized last week's proposal by the EU to allow the WHO to decide what diseases should be covered beyond an initial list of 23 infectious diseases.

CMS Administrator Tom Scully quietly hired a long-time AARP official last month, sparking speculation that the move could help the Bush administration's effort to enact a prescription drug benefit this year.

Marty Corry, who worked for AARP as its director of federal legislation, is now a special assistant to Scully. He will work on long-term care policies as well as other issues, according to an agency official. Several CMS stakeholders who attended recent CMS meetings said they were surprised to learn that Corry joined the agency in December.