Things are heating up at the CDC.
The agency’s lack of transparency regarding their development of opioid prescribing guidelines has drawn the attention of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
In a letter to CDC Director, Dr. Tom Frieden both the Chair, Representative Jason Chaffetz (R, UT) and Ranking Member, Representative Elijah Cummings (D, MD) share their displeasure at the secretive nature of the guideline development process. Per the Committee, “We have questions about why a Core Expert Group established by CDC to assist with drafting these guidelines is not considered an advisory committee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA).”
Those questions and an aggressive documents request are included in the letter which can be found here. And the Committee wants them by January 8th. Looks like there will be some people called back from their Christmas vacation at the CDC.
Perhaps the best way to address the CDC’s fairy tale process is to quote from author of Peter Pan:
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
James Barrie
