Grassley Gags on FDA Gag Order

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is worried that Frank M. Torti, the FDA's acting commissioner, is going way too far to protect information that the agency deems "confidential."

A memo Torti sent out on March 13 threatens FDA employees with "disciplinary sanctions and/or individual criminal liability" if they let go of certain kinds of information. Grassley says such threats could muzzle the "patriots" and "whistleblowers" who might otherwise come forward to expose wrongdoing at the agency or the businesses it regulates. (Deliciously, Torti's memo was leaked last week, apparently to the In Vivo blog.)

Grassley called on the FDA to "clarify" the contents of the memo.

The FDA had previously said that the memo simply reiterated current policy. In the memo, Torti warned employees that revealing trade secrets, internal agency documents, or certain personal data could expose the FDA to lawsuits.

In a letter to Torti, Grassley said that the memo "goes beyond legitimate privacy concerns and appears to run contrary to many statutes protecting executive branch communications with members of Congress." He reminded Torti that "[d]enying or interfering with employees' rights to furnish information to Congress is also against the law."

Grassley, a longtime FDA critic, co-authored the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act.