Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), announced that she would be stepping down as commissioner at the end of March 2015.

As one of the longest-serving commissioners at the agency, Hamburg led the FDA for close to six years. She said the heavy demands of the job as well as the length of time she’s been serving contributed to her decision to resign.

While some have praised Hamburg’s time at the FDA, others, like Dr. Michael Carome, the director of the health research group at Public Citizen, have been more critical, calling her tenure a period of “weak and ineffective leadership.” He said in a statement:¹

“Too often, the F.D.A. has succumbed to industry and political pressures, implementing policies and taking actions that tilt too far toward the bottom-line interests of pharmaceutical and medical-device companies, and away from protecting public health… Throughout Hamburg's tenure, the FDA has grown even more cozy with the industries that it regulates.”

Strong Ties to Industry from the Very Beginning…

Hamburg entered the FDA through the revolving government/private industry door after allegedly making millions as the director of Henry Schein Inc., the largest seller of dental amalgam (mercury fillings) and flu vaccine seller as well.2 To get appointed, Hamburg was required to sign an agreement promising:

   1. To sell her Schein stock and stock options
   2. Not to participate in regulatory matters affecting Schein while owning these options

Sign she did, but she apparently had her fingers crossed. Selling her stock, Hamburg retained her stock options, which in a few weeks gained from being "under water" (no value) to having market value. Promising to cut her ties with Schein, she allegedly continued regular correspondence with Schein's general counsel on her private e-mail.

Hamburg took office as Commissioner in May 2009. Charlie Brown, director of Consumers for Dental Choice, wrote her June 1, 2009 to inquire whether she had recused (disqualified) herself from working on an upcoming amalgam rule.

Not even answering, she convened a meeting with the American Dental Association's “best friend” at the FDA, dentist Susan Runner. On July 1, in a meeting whose notes are heavily expunged from public records requests, Henry Schein alumna Hamburg and pro-amalgam dentist Runner put together a disgraceful rule on amalgam.

It allowed continued concealment of the mercury within, buried the warnings for children and unborn children so deep in the rule no one would find them, and allowed Runner to be the FDA's spokesperson to proclaim amalgam safe.