One Man's Ode to the FDA
Agency Is Often Criticized, but Employees Sing Its Praises
Monday, July 31, 2006; Page A13
"FDA Centennial Anthem" won't be mistaken for "The Star-Spangled Banner.'' No bombs are bursting in air; instead, goods are made effective, safe and pure.
Workers at the Food and Drug Administration are singing a new 126-word ode at awards ceremonies, picnics and commemorative events to mark the regulatory agency's centennial. "Now in this proud hour, a vibrant vision thrives," one line says.
 Which President signed the bill establishing the Smithsonian Institution? A. James K. Polk B. Zachary Taylor C. Franklin Pierce D. James Buchanan  
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Not everyone is singing along. The anthem might be true to the FDA's roots in the Progressive Era of Theodore Roosevelt, but nowhere in its four stanzas of lofty sentiment does it acknowledge FDA setbacks, such as the handling of Vioxx, a drug pulled from the market after it was linked to heart attacks.
"It reads like it's out of a 1950s grammar-school textbook where everything is just wonderful," said Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group critical of the FDA's oversight of food. "It's a little disconnected from the reality of today's FDA."
One of the agency's sharpest critics, Sidney M. Wolfe, director of the Public Citizen Health Research Group, described the lyrics as "ridiculous."
"There's nothing in there, of course, about regulation," said Wolfe, whose group monitors the FDA's drug oversight.
Gerald Harris, the author of the hymn, said it celebrates history and isn't intended to comment on politics or polish the agency's image. Harris, an engineer, works in Rockville for the FDA, where he helps devise ways to test medical ultrasound equipment for safety and efficacy.
"I just got to thinking about trying to express my feelings about my job with some words and music," said Harris, 60, who has worked at the FDA for 35 years. His anthem is sung by an employee chorus of two dozen, sometimes accompanied by a wind ensemble.
For weeks, Harris sat in a corner of his basement after work, sometimes staying up until midnight. He used an electronic keyboard hooked up to his computer to compose the anthem.
The anthem begins:
One century past, a people's hope fulfilled
By an act conceived for safe medicine and food
