The Food and Drug Administration has admitted that it indeed monitored the private e-mail accounts of doctors and scientists who had concerns about approved medical devices that might be unsafe, The Washington Post reports. The FDA, however, said the monitoring was part of an investigation looking into possible leaks by employees of confidential information.
Last month, The Post reported on the allegations and subsequent court case that said the FDA intercepted private g-mail messages when the employees were off the clock. The doctors were supposedly concerned that the agency had approved cancer screenings and other medical devices that were not safe. The monitoring reportedly began as early as January 2009.
Congress has since reacted to the breach, most recently with a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif. He called the monitoring “unlawful."
Last month, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, also sent Hamburg a letter expressing his concerns over the allegations. Both Grassley and Issa have launched investigations.
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