Former FDA commissioner pleads guilty to two charges

Lester Crawford, the former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, pleaded guilty in a district court in Washington, DC, last week to two charges: conflict of interest and failing to disclose financial holdings in companies that the FDA regulated. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a fine. Dr Crawford will be sentenced on 22 January 2007.

Figure 1.

Dr Lester Crawford: “I accept full responsibility”

Credit: LAWRENCE JACKSON/AP/PA/EMPICS

Dr Crawford's lawyer, Barbara Van Gelder, told the Associated Press news agency that she expected Dr Crawford to be fined and placed on probation. The Washingtonian magazine said she is the lawyer to call if “you find yourself drawn into an awkward congressional investigation, or worse, a grand-jury investigation by the Justice Department or the US Attorney's office” (Washingtonian December 2004, p 94).

The US Department of Justice had charged Dr Crawford with failing to disclose investments on forms required of senior officials at the FDA. He made false statements saying that he and his wife had sold stocks in organisations regulated by the FDA, such as PepsiCo, Sysco, Kimberly-Clark, and Embrex, or did not declare their holdings. He also did not disclose income from holdings in Embrex stock options or from ownership of Kimberly-Clark or Sysco stock.

The conflict of interest charge related to Dr Crawford's ownership of Sysco and PepsiCo stock and his role as chairman of the FDA's obesity working group, which made recommendations about relabelling the energy content of food products, such as soft drinks.

The Justice Department said there was no evidence that his stock ownership altered the findings of the FDA's working group.

In impromptu statements to several US newspapers Dr Crawford said, “This was my fault and no one else's, and I accept full responsibility... Nothing that I have done, I hope, can be construed to affect the integrity of the FDA.” Ms Van Gelder confirmed the statements.

Dr Crawford, who is a veterinarian and food safety expert, worked at the FDA for many years. He was deputy commissioner between February 2002 and March 2004, when he became acting commissioner. He was nominated to be commissioner, and this nomination was confirmed by the Senate in July 2005.