Building on Kessler’s Legacy

That she was one of David Kessler’s closest deputies should be an asset to Dr. Jane Henney when her nomination to succeed him as Food and Drug Administration commissioner goes to the Senate. That Henney’s association with Kessler may instead hurt her speaks to the super-partisan atmosphere in the Capitol and some confusion about the FDA’s real mission.

Kessler, the agency’s high-profile leader from 1990 to 1997, vigorously pushed initiatives to speed up drug approvals, revamp food labels and inspections and regulate tobacco--infuriating some GOP leaders along the way.

Henney, 51, is an oncologist who spent nearly a decade at the National Cancer Institute before joining Kessler for two years at the FDA. Currently vice president of the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Administration, Henney was nominated by President Clinton Tuesday to head the 9,000-person agency that regulates foods, drugs, cosmetics and medical devices. She has earned high marks for her administrative skills and independence. Moreover, Clinton first floated Henney’s name in January and in the months since no unpleasant surprises about her credentials or views have surfaced. But the game in the Senate of late has been to stall Clinton’s nominees--for federal judge, for ambassador, for agency head. So even though the FDA has been without a permanent commissioner for 16 months, a quick vote is unlikely.

Delay would have consequences reaching well beyond the agency’s staff and into the medicine chest and refrigerator of every American. The FDA has an almost impossible task: monitoring the safety and effectiveness of products totaling $1 trillion in spending each year, 25 cents of every consumer dollar.

For years the agency has been understaffed and underfunded. Complaints about long waits for FDA approval of promising new drugs prompted Congress, after much delay, to pass legislation last year to further speed the review of new medicines. A major task for the next commissioner will be to implement this law, balancing the potential to improve health and save lives against the risks almost every drug carries. Securing adequate staff and budget must be part of that task.

Adverse reactions from drugs already on the market account for 100,000 deaths and 1.5 million hospitalizations yearly. Better monitoring of approved drugs should be high on the next commissioner’s agenda. The recent withdrawals of a blood-pressure drug and a pain reliever underscore how tough the balancing act will be.

Just as difficult is the mission of protecting the food supply, especially cutting the growing risk of food-borne diseases. The next commissioner should also push hard for authority to monitor the exploding use of dietary supplements--vitamins and herbs whose safety and effectiveness are largely unregulated.

David Kessler’s successor should continue the fight he began to regulate nicotine in cigarettes. With at least one-third of all teenagers who try cigarettes becoming hooked, Kessler correctly labeled teen smoking as a national public health problem.

Above all, the FDA exists to protect the public, not to placate pharmaceutical manufacturers, food processors or cigarette makers. Jane Henney appears to understand that mandate and should be allowed a chance soon to demonstrate that to the Senate.