to buy the site and to tear down the old buildings. That is accomplished, but no money has been provided to proceed with the building itself. Senator HILL. Are your plans all completed? Mr. LARRICK. They are in the process of completing them. They will be completed this fiscal year. Senator HILL. You mean this present fiscal year, 1959? Mr. LARRICK. Yes. Senator HILL. In other words, they will be complete by July 1? Senator HILL. What do you estimate the cost of that building to be?. Mr. LARRICK. $23 million. It is a very highly specialized, fine laboratory building. We are now in four different locations, and our laboratories, located in the Department of Agriculture Building, are very much out of date. Senator HILL. And you are so scattered? Mr. LARRICK. That is right, with four different locations. Senator HILL. However, there is no budget estimate for that in the budgets of next year? Mr. LARRICK. No, sir; there is no building provided for. Senator HILL. However, your plans will be ready by July 1? Mr. LARRICK. That is right. Senator MONRONEY. Are these four buildings all Government buildings, or are some of them private? Mr. LARRICK. No. They are all Government buildings. One of them is temporary, one is over in the former Providence Hospital nurses building, part of it in the South Agriculture Building, and the rest of it is in the Health, Education, and Welfare Building. RECOMMENDATIONS OF ADVISORY COMMITTEE Senator HILL. Mr. Larrick, several years ago you had for study some important recommendations from your Citizens Advisory Committee. How long has that been? Mr. LARRICK. That has been 4 years ago. Senator HILL. How have you done so far as your progress with reference to the recommendations made by that committee? Mr. LARRICK. This group of very distinguished people, including folks from industry, representatives from women's organizations, and others, recommended that the Food and Drug Administration grow from threefold to fourfold within a period of 5 to 10 years. The plan was to adopt the minimum amount of that growth, and here is a chart that shows what has happened. Senator HILL. You do not have extra copies of that chart? Mr. LARRICK. Yes; we do have. We will be glad to put that in the record. Actually, we are behind the minimum the committee recommended right now. (The information referred to follows:) NUMBER OF PERSONNEL 3500 PROGRESS IN F. D. A. PERSONNEL EXPANSION COMMITTEE 3545 1763 1533 1333 2331 Fold 877 10311180124 192 Base at the time the Projected Expansion Rate 3083 - FDA-PPA 1-59 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 FISCAL YEAR The projection shows increases necessary to meet the expansion recommended by the Citizens Advisory Committee in the maximum time period (10 years). Shaded columns indicate staff for activities on enforcement programs operating in 1956. LAG IN APPLYING RECOMMENDATIONS Senator HILL. How much behind are you? Mr. LARRICK. Quite substantially behind. Mr. CARDWELL. For example, in fiscal year 1959, the recommendations of the Citizens Advisory Committee, on the basis of that growth factor which would bring about a fourfold increase at the end of the period, would have required approximately 1,333 employees. The regular budget for 1959, exclusive of the food additives program, provides 1,251 positions. Mr. LARRICK. So we are about 80 positions behind as of 1959. We would fall farther behind with the present budget, but would almost to the minimum with the House action. come up Mr. CARDWELL. The House action would bring us up to the minimum. Senator HILL. I wonder with the changes we have seen in the last 4 or 5 years if that committee made certain recommendations today whether their recommendations would be different from those at the time they made their report. Mr. LARRICK. I think they would. I think they would be higher. Senator HILL. Have you given any thought to further study by the committee? Mr. LARRICK. Yes. I think that the time has about arrived when we should either reenact that committee or perhaps a new one to look into this. Senator HILL. To study this whole field? Mr. LARRICK. The broad, fast-changing field of food and drug technology. COST OF STUDY Senator HILL. How much did that study cost? Do you recall, Mr. Larrick? Mr. LARRICK. It was of the order of $25,000. Mr. HARVEY. I think it was about $30,000. Mr. LARRICK. $25,000 to $30,000. We will be glad to supply the exact figure. Senator HILL. All right; you may insert that. (The information referred to follows:) Costs in connection with the study made by the Citizens Advisory Committee were approximately $23,450. Mr. LARRICK. It was an appropriation from Congress. CONTAMINATED EGGS Senator MONRONEY. Among the cases that I believe the Food and Drug Administration took action on was the powdering of contaminated eggs which you suspected were finding their way into bakery products and other things. Do you feel you have successfully stopped that? Mr. LARRICK. No. That is a terrifically lucrative business. You can go around to all these incubator places where they hatch eggs by the millions and buy up the infertile eggs that hadn't hatched for 7 cents a dozen, freeze them into big cans, and sell them for a fancy price. They are hard to stop. We are in the process of bringing a number of them into court, but it is so lucrative for the unscrupulous operator that I am afraid we are always going to be doing something in this area. We have been very successful, though, lately, in seizing tremendous quantities. Senator MONRONEY. You discovered this process and then took action, I believe, to try and stop it. Mr. LARRICK. That is right. Senator MONRONEY. Funds are included in this for preventing these hatchery eggs from finding their way into pies, and cakes, and things? Mr. LARRICK. That is right. That is very definitely an important part of this. PHILADELPHIA POISONING CASE Senator MONRONEY. I am trying to recall some of the cases that I thought were rather spectacular that sometimes we forget about; for example, this contaminated fish at Philadelphia where apparently they used the wrong chemicals for preservatives or seasoning. I think you are certainly to be commended on the Herculean efforts you took to warn people of the dangers immediately on that. Mr. LARRICK. We were very fortunate there was only one death, because there could have been mass deaths if we had not had the help of a lot of other organizations, because the fish was poisonous. You are a very close observer. Senator MONRONEY. It always seems to me that the type of law enforcement you may find in the laboratories and test tubes provides probably better cases of public protection than the two-gun shoot-emwestern sheriff who seems to offer it on TV programs. up Mr. LARRICK. We have a case right today in the office that shows what happens with some of these new technical developments. FLUID FOR CONTACT LENSES These eyeglases that you put right in your eye, called contact lenses, are becoming very popular, and a chap on the west coast makes a fluid that you put on this contact lens just as you insert it in your eye. One of our inspectors went through there a few weeks ago and he discovered they were careless in the manufacturing operations and he guessed that the fluid would be contaminated with bacteria, so he took samples from the market last week. These were analyzed and found to be, not only contaminated, but contaminated with a bacteria which found, in a previous episode with another firm some years ago, was the cause of a number of cases of blindness. So we are in the process today, on a nationwide basis and in cooperation with the firm now that they know the effects, of taking it off the market from one end of the country to the other. Senator HILL. That is an astounding story. Why would a manufacturer be so careless that way and disregard the public welfare? Mr. LARRICK. He didn't think there was any danger involved in it. He is engaged in an awful lot of manufacturing, Senator. Senator HILL. I understand that. Mr. LARRICK. Most of them are very careful. Senator MONRONEY. The very presence of the Food and Drug Administration is one of the reasons that maybe people's habits and taking for granted that things will be all right finally lead to the whole industry staying in step? Mr. LARRICK. That is right. That is very true. Senator HILL. I take it from your testimony, Mr. Larrick, that you really very much need this additional $2 million that the House has granted. Mr. LARRICK. I think so; yes, sir. Senator HILL. Senator Monroney, do you have any more questions? Senator MONRONEY. No, sir. Senator HILL. Thank you very much. Is there anything you would like to add? I am always glad to come before this committee. Senator HILL. Thank you, sir. We are always glad to have you here. We appreciate your presence. Thank you. FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL STATEMENTS OF DR. CHARLES E. BURBRIDGE, SUPERINTENDENT, FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL; ACCOMPANIED BY DR. R. FRANK JONES, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL; AND HENRY H. BAIRD, BUDGET AND FISCAL OFFICER, FREEDMEN'S HOSPITAL APPROPRIATION ESTIMATE "For expenses necessary for operation and maintenance, including repairs; furnishing, repairing, and cleaning of wearing apparel used by employees in the performance of their official duties; transfer of funds to the appropriation 'Salaries and expenses, Howard University' for salaries of technical and professional personnel detailed to the hospital; payments to the appropriation of Howard University for actual cost of heat, light, and power furnished by such university; [$2,975,000] $3,190,000: Provided, That no intern or resident physician receiving compensation from this appropriation on a full-time basis shall receive compensation in the form of wages or salary from any other appropriation in this title: Provided further, That the District of Columbia shall pay by check to Freedmen's Hospital, upon the Surgeon General's request, in advance at the beginning of each quarter, such amount as the Surgeon General calculates will be earned on the basis of rates approved by the Bureau of the Budget for the care of patients certified by the District of Columbia. Bills rendered by the Surgeon General on the basis of such calculations shall not be subject to audit or certification in advance of payment; but proper adjustment of amounts which have been paid in advance on the basis of such calculations shall be made at the end of each quarter: Provided further, That the Surgeon General may delegate the responsibilities imposed upon him by the foregoing proviso." |