Former FDA commissioner investigated

May 1 2006

It appears that the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Dr. Lester Crawford is under federal investigation amid accusations of financial improprieties and making false statements to Congress.

Crawford's attorney Barbara Van Gelder, says a grand jury has begun a criminal investigation into the activities of Lester Crawford when he was head of the FDA, but made no further comment.

Van Gelder has apparently instructed Crawford to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if ordered to answer questions.

Dr. Crawford resigned last September two months after being confirmed for the job.

He had been acting commissioner for more than a year and said then it was time for someone else to take over the job.

It has been disclosed that either Crawford, or his wife, according to documents released by the Dept of Health and Human Services, had sold shares for more than $50,000 in companies which the FDA regulates when he was FDA's Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner.

Following his abrupt resignation Crawford went to work for Policy Directions Inc., a lobbying firm.

The criminal investigation came to light at a court hearing in a lawsuit over the FDA's actions on the emergency contraceptive pills, a subject of heated debate during Crawford's time at the FDA.

After the pill's maker, Barr Laboratories, applied three years ago to sell Plan B over the counter, Crawford persistently delayed action.

At the time many lawmakers, abortion rights advocates and former FDA officials contested that the delays were political but Crawford and other agency officials said their concerns were scientific and legal.

An advocacy group, the Center for Reproductive Rights, sued the agency in federal court in New York over the delays, and a judge allowed the case to proceed, giving the center the right to interview top FDA officials, including Crawford.

Crawford who was due to be questioned under oath last week has previously refused to answer questions from the Government Accountability Office about Plan B.

Before Crawford's FDA role was confirmed, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt promised the FDA would act on the Plan B application by September 2005, which led Senators Patty Murray, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, to lift their hold on Crawford's nomination.

But after he was confirmed, Crawford postponed indefinitely any decision on Plan B.