mr. chairman , i rise today in support of the hinchey amendment , and i appreciate the effort he has been doing with these last two amendments , and i hope we will continue his work , because the amendment is very important . 
it will help us put a stop to the conflict of interests which actually weakens the drug approval process . 
the fda advisory committees are charged with ensuring that the medicines our families take are safe and effective . 
current law prohibits conflicts of interest between the members on the advisory committee and the companies whose drug is being examined by the advisory committee . 
though the fda has the authority to waive this prohibition under certain limited circumstances , this exception has now become the rule , and too often the fda places scientists with financial connections to the drugs they are examining on the advisory committees . 
conflicts of interest create disastrous consequences . 
in some cases , one-third of the advisory committee 's appointees do part-time consulting work , research or own stock in the companies whose drugs they are considering . 
such a committee approved the drug vioxx . 
as many as 100 , 000 people have been injured by taking vioxx . 
had the members of the advisory committee with ties to the industry been removed , vioxx would not have been approved . 
some will argue and some may argue that scientists with financial connections to the industry may still be unbiased . 
however , this week an article in the philadelphia inquirer reported that senior executives at merck threatened to damage a harvard researcher 's career if he publicly lectured about the health effects of vioxx . 
in such an environment , where those who are trying to help protect our families are threatened by drug companies , it is inconceivable that advisory committee members can remain unbiased as they examine their part-time employer 's drugs . 
the financial interests are too great , not only for those who sit on the advisory committee , but also the drug companies who produce these drugs , and do whatever they can to get them approved . 
we have so much work to do in this area . 
the hinchey amendment does not put any new requirements upon the fda , merely enforces the law as is written ; and this congress should stand up and enforce the law as explained in previous congresses . 
