Bush Clears Way for Over-the-Counter Abortifacient Sales

Pro-aborts get what they want,
Bush asks FDA Commissioner to resign
WASHINGTON -- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Lester Crawford resigned unexpectedly yesterday, two months after he survived a tough Senate confirmation. Crawford told his staff that at 67, it was time to step aside. President Bush immediately appointed Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, director of the National Cancer Institute, acting commissioner. Sources familiar with his departure said Crawford was asked to resign. In August, morale at the agency plummeted after Crawford indefinitely postponed nonprescription sales of the abortifacient-contraception pill Plan B over objections of staff scientists who had declared the pill safe. The agency's women's-health chief resigned in protest.

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Bush Immediately Designates New FDA Commissioner
Doctor Andrew von Eschenbach, a Philadelphia native who directs the National Cancer Institute, will become the the acting replacement for Food and Drug Commissioner Lester Crawford. President Bush named von Eschenbach to the post after the 67-year-old Crawford submitted his resignation yesterday. Crawford was confirmed by the Senate just two months ago to run the agency. von Eschenbach took over the Cancer Institute -- the government's lead cancer research agency -- in 2002. Before then, he served as chief academic officer of the University of Texas M-D Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Embattled FDA Commissioner Crawford resigns
WASHINGTON -- Embattled Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford resigned Friday, telling his staff that at age 67 it was time to step aside. President Bush designated the National Cancer Institute's director, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, to be the FDA's new acting commissioner.

Posted by Editor at September 26, 2005 07:28 AM