Operating with low visibility, Bush administration appointees working under the direction of White House Assistant for Economic Affairs Larry Lindsey, are beginning to influence biotechnology policies—albeit more obviously on the international rather than the domestic side, according to industry sources. For example, during meetings in April of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Codex Committee, US delegates forcefully argued against reliance on the precautionary principle as a basis for evaluating food safety—a tack that is sure to be favored by biotech companies, but will certainly roil biotech critics.
Meanwhile, in terms of the more visible top-level positions that affect biotechnology policies, several major posts remain open, including that of presidential science advisor, who would head the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP, Washington, DC), a commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA; Rockville, MD), and a director for the National Institutes of Health (NIH; Bethesda, MD). But in terms of filling top posts at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; Washington, DC), the administration moved more quickly—in January appointing former New Jersey governor Christine Whitman as agency administrator, and more recently naming Linda Fisher as deputy administrator (see p. 499).
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