IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 98 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Commissioner 
of the Food and Drug Administration should give the greatest weight 
in making critical policy decisions to readily available hard science data, 
including evidence from the natural sciences, physical sciences, and com-
puting sciences. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 17, 2011 
Mr. FINCHER (for himself, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mrs. BLACKBURN, and Mr. 
COBLE) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration 
should give the greatest weight in making critical policy 
decisions to readily available hard science data, including 
evidence from the natural sciences, physical sciences, and 
computing sciences. 
Whereas the Food and Drug Administration (referred to as 
the FDA), within the Department of Health and Human 
Services, is responsible for protecting the public health by 
assuring safety and effectiveness of the food supply, and 
of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other bio-
logical products, medical devices, cosmetics, dietary sup-
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•HRES 98 IH 
plements, radiation emitting products, and tobacco prod-
ucts in our Nation; 
Whereas the Government Accountability Office, in reviewing 
the activities of the FDA during the past several months, 
has found numerous instances of the FDA failing to fol-
low its core mission with respect to the oversight of prod-
ucts within its jurisdiction; 
Whereas the Government Accountability Office has also 
raised significant concerns regarding the ability of the 
FDA to keep pace with scientific progress, including— 
(1) a survey of FDA managers, where GAO found 
that 67 percent reported that updated scientific tech-
nologies would greatly help them to meet FDA’s goals 
and responsibilities, but only 36 percent of managers be-
lieved that FDA was making great progress in keeping 
pace with scientific progress; 
(2) a report finding that FDA officials acknowledged 
that there are challenges in the ability of the FDA to ful-
fill and manage its growing medical product oversight re-
sponsibilities that can be attributed to resource con-
straints, but the FDA could not provide the information 
necessary to develop reliable estimates of its resource 
needs; and 
(3) a report indicating that the FDA— 
(A) 
faces 
data 
constraints 
in 
making 
postmarket drug safety decisions, with weaknesses in 
the different types of data available to the FDA; and 
(B) lacks the authority to require certain stud-
ies and has resource limitations for obtaining data; 
Whereas the FDA has a number of pending decisions affect-
ing various industries in which it is being urged to base 
its decisions on findings made in social sciences, while 
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•HRES 98 IH 
there is inadequate data from the natural sciences, phys-
ical sciences, or computing sciences to support such deci-
sions; and 
Whereas any efforts by the FDA to impose new mandates, 
standards, or other requirements should not be made 
final if supported substantially only by social sciences and 
speculative conclusions as to cause and effect: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that the Commissioner of the Food and Drug 
Administration should— 
(1) give the greatest weight in making critical 
policy decisions to readily available hard science 
data, including evidence from the natural sciences, 
physical sciences, and computing sciences; and 
(2) avoid paternalistic policy decisions that are 
not grounded in hard science. 
Æ 
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