Twenty-three US senators are calling on President George W. Bush to boost funding for food-safety oversight in 2009. In a 6 December letter to Bush, the bipartisan group complained that the budget of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not reflect its ?critical? and growing role.

They noted, for instance, that the value of US agricultural imports had grown by 40% between 2003 and 2006, yet between 2004 and 2007, the number of employees dedicated to food safety at the FDA fell by 15% to 2,613. In February, Bush proposed increasing the agency's food-safety budget by $10.5 million, to $467 million. Congress has yet to approve the spending bill.

The letter comes on the heels of a highly critical report on 29 November from the FDA's scientific advisory board. It said that the $1.9-billion agency cannot fulfil its mission because of the erosion and inadequacy of its scientific base and information-technology infrastucture.