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Washington, D.C.—The leader of the union representing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) employees has called for the agency to receive a substantial funding hike in the administration’s budget for the coming fiscal year, saying that years of poor funding have left the FDA unprepared to handle its public health duties.

In a letter sent to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Colleen M. Kelley called for the FDA to receive a funding boost of at least 20 percent in President Obama’s budget for fiscal 2012.

“As you work to develop the President’s budget for fiscal year 2012, NTEU asks that you make the FDA a major priority,” President Kelley wrote. “Consistent funding increases over a sustained period of time are essential to restoring the agency’s capacity to handle its list of complex public health responsibilities.”

While agency funding has increased under the current administration, this change has only restored the FDA to staffing levels similar to those that existed in 1994, Kelley said, when the agency had far fewer duties than now.

“The FDA has faced years of chronic underfunding while at the same time has seen more and more duties added to its mission,” President Kelley said. “Congress, consumer advocacy groups, as well as the agency’s own employees, all are on record as being alarmed about the risks that insufficient FDA funding pose to the integrity of the nation’s food and drug supply.”

Kelley has long advocated for adequate funding and resources at the FDA so that agency employees can accomplish their important missions of protecting the American consumer, as well as ensuring the safety and security of the nation’s food and drug supply. In the days before the July 4 congressional recess, the House Subcommittee on Agriculture and FDA Appropriations approved an additional $55 million above the president's request for the FDA in its funding bill for fiscal year 2011.

“We are grateful to you, President Obama and Commissioner (Margaret) Hamburg for your efforts to win additional resources for the FDA,” President Kelley said. “But frontline employees remain aware that the FDA still lacks the resources it needs to properly protect the public and do the work it has been charged with.”

NTEU has consistently worked in concert with an array of groups interested in public health and food safety issues to secure additional FDA resources in previous appropriations cycles.

NTEU, the largest independent federal union, represents 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments, including more than 5,000 in the FDA.