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Washington, D.C— Local members of National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) hosted Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) today in a tour of a multi-million-dollar Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lab in Detroit that the agency has targeted for closure. Rep. Dingell is chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce which has jurisdiction over food and drug safety.

Rep. Dingell has questioned the agency’s reasoning for proposing to shutter more than half of its 13 laboratories as a component of a national reorganization plan covering FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA). The Detroit facility is one of seven labs slated to close by 2009.

“We are still waiting for the FDA to explain how it is serving the public interest by shutting down more than half of their labs at a time when we are experiencing life-threatening food outbreaks,” said Rep. Dingell. “Foods like spinach and peanut butter can carry harmful toxins that threaten the public health while the pet food contamination is so widespread it may be considered the canary in the coal mine for a future bioterrorism attack on our food supply.”

NTEU, which represents a number of FDA employees impacted by the reorganization plan, including employees in Detroit, has been a vocal opponent of the agency’s plan. “This proposal would compromise efforts to protect the safety of the nation’s food and drug supply,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “Rep. Dingell understands the importance of the FDA to the American public and he knows the importance of the Detroit lab to its employees, to the city of Detroit and greater metro community.”

Rep. Dingell has demanded an explanation from the FDA regarding its lab closure plan and has requested the agency stop all action to implement the plan pending a review by the Committee.

Among many other duties, the Detroit lab tests food and drug samples imported across the city’s Ambassador Bridge; is one of only three FDA labs nationwide to test medical supplies stockpiled by the Department of Defense to ensure troops receive viable medications; and tests specific drugs targeted by the FDA.

If the Detroit facility—which underwent a multi-million dollar renovation in 2000—is closed, food and drug samples which would have been tested locally will instead be shipped to other FDA facilities around the country, delaying testing and jeopardizing the integrity, safety and security of the samples themselves, NTEU warned.

“Closing this lab not only closes a recently renovated facility, it weakens the FDA’s overall ability to conduct timely, comprehensive checks of goods coming across one of our nation’s busiest trade borders,” Kelley said. “With the serious food-related illness issues that have arisen recently – pet food, peanut butter, spinach – the FDA needs to bolster its resources, not deplete them.”

“Reorganizing the field operations and closing this lab will jeopardize the efficient testing of food crossing into Detroit from Canada and the proper testing of potentially life-saving medication for our nation’s troops,” said Linda Richey, a longtime FDA employee who is president of NTEU Chapter 230 which represents Detroit-area FDA employees.

The FDA announced plans to restructure the agency’s field operations and consolidate its labs on Feb. 27. As a result, the Detroit lab, as well as labs in Denver, Kansas City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Winchester, Mass., all are threatened with closure.

NTEU is the nation’s largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including 5,200 in the FDA.