FDA Commissioner Focused On Challenges

The Food and Drug Administration's new chief says she wants to modernize the agency.

"One of my priorities coming into this new role as FDA commissioner is to really move the agency into the 21st century," Dr. Margaret Hamburg tells NPR's Robert Siegel.

Last week, Congress gave the FDA authority to regulate tobacco for the first time, and Hamburg says she is "delighted" by the challenge.

"It's going to take the form of oversight of manufacturing, an ability to really regulate critical ingredients that go into the production of tobacco," she says. "We're going to be working on issues of more appropriate labeling of tobacco products and, importantly, marketing of tobacco products and educating the public about the threats to health."

But Hamburg acknowledges that morale is low at the agency, which has been accused of taking too long to approve some drugs, and approving other drugs too quickly.

"There is a sense of having been struggling along against some considerable odds in terms of lack of resources and other concerns," she says. "But there's enormous excitement and enthusiasm to really roll up sleeves and address the critical challenges before us."