F.D.A. officials went to the inspector general at the Department of Health and Human Services to seek a criminal investigation into the possible leak, but they were turned down. The inspector general found that there was no evidence of a crime, noting that “matters of public safety” can legally be released to the news media. Undeterred, agency officials began the electronic monitoring operation on their own.
Rep Van Hollen: “It is absolutely unacceptable for the F.D.A. to be spying on employees who reach out to members of Congress to expose abuses or wrongdoing in government agencies.”
Senator Grassley: “[The FDA] have absolutely no business reading the private e-mails of their employees. They think they can be the Gestapo and do anything they want.”
Just freaking ridiculous. 6 PhD scientists at the FDA were concerned that their agency was approving scanning devices (made by GE Healthcare) for mammograms and colonoscopies that were giving patients too much radiation. They tried to voice their opinions, but were shut down. So then they attempted back-channel communications with Congressmen, the press, and even the White House to try to get some leverage against their management, whom they felt were making a mistake and putting patients at risk.
What did the FDA do about it? They hired a security firm to use off-the-shelf spyware to monitor the communications of these "trouble-makers". They have also since terminated those employees. But this could be illegal under new laws on retribution against whisteblowers. Of course when the news broke, the FDA said that was not their intent, and instead they were building a case that these employees were leaking confidential information (discussions between the FDA and companies are confidential to "protect trade secrets", though I don't think they should be). I find that argument bizarre, since it's not like Wikileaks and national security here, putting spies or diplomats in harm's way. And even if the scientists were leaking info, if GE and the FDA did nothing wrong, then they have nothing to hide. If the scanner gets approved, then we should be able to know everything about it, right? But the whole secrecy concern was moot anyway, because the moron contractors that the FDA hired to snoop on the scientists accidentally posted all the classified reports the scientists were working on online (they have since been taken down). One of the scientists happened to discover this when he was Googling one of his "co-conspirators". Obviously GE is not happy either: the Keystone Cops FDA was ostensibly trying to protect its secrets, and ended up exposing them to a worse degree. Hollywood couldn't make this stuff up.
So is this about a medical device company using its leverage to get its regulatory agency to rubber-stamp its next big-money product, even if it's not entirely safe? Those FDA managers probably want "real jobs" after they do their time in gov't, and GE is a big, rich employer. When principled, concerned scientists try to DO THEIR JOBS, then they are threatened and spied on. The FDA was concerned about those "defaming" their agency. What are they, the Islamic State of Iran? In America we TOLERATE DISSENT, especially when it's in the interest of public safety. After Nixon, I thought we weren't supposed to have "enemies lists". And it's not like one disgruntled quack scientist here; 6 were putting their careers on the line because they felt so strongly about this issue. Maybe they're not all noble saints and other things are going on here, but at least this justifies a second opinion on the scanners, especially now that Americans are starting to express their disapproval over excessive radiation and diagnostic costs imposed on us by device companies and doctors.
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