that permanent career Under Secretaries or Assistant Secretaries, of equal rank, should be placed in charge of the two activities. Obviously such an organization would not be as desirable as the formation of a separate Department of Public Health. These recommendations are made by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers in the interest of more effective public-health administration since the coordination of all the civilian public-health agencies into a single department on the Federal level would facilitate cooperation with the various State and Territorial agencies. This, in turn, would bring about an improvement in general public health work throughout the country and provide for more efficient administration, with a minimum overhead for services rendered, of all future legislation pertaining to public health. The association has also indicated on several occasions the desirability of transferring the vital statistic functions of the Census Bureau to the United States Public Health Service. Although the association has not had an opportunity to study Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1946 as submitted by President Harry S. Truman, it has on many occasions, as noted above, encouraged the coordination of all Federal agencies dealing with public health into one Department of Public Health. While Reorganization Plan No. 2 does not incorporate all of our suggestions, it was the feeling of the executive committee of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers at its meeting in Washington on June 5 and 6 that the plan should receive the support of the association in that it partially, at least, brings about the unification of civilian health agencies in the Federal Government. The CHAIRMAN. We will recess until 10:30 tomorrow morning, at which time we will meet in room 357, Senate Office Building. (Whereupon, at 3:45 p. m., the committee adjourned pursuant to reconvening the next day at 10:30 a. m.) DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND SECURITY TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 1947 UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10.30 a. m., in room 357, Senate Office Building, Senator George D. Aiken (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Aiken (chairman), Hoey, and Robertson. The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will come to order. Before calling the witness I will insert in the record a letter which I have just received from the Vermont State Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, Inc., in which they state that they prefer S. 712, but if S. 140 is to be enacted, they suggest some amendments to it. We will insert the letter in the record and proceed with the witnesses. (The letter referred to follows:) VERMONT STATE ASSOCIATION OF OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, INC. A DIVISION OF SOCIETY OF THE AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION MARCH 24, 1947. Senator GEORGE D. AIKEN, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR AIKEN: In the establishment of a Department of Health, Education, and Security your bill S. 712 is much preferred by the Vermont State Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. Should S. 140 be enacted this association desires the following amendments: 1. Section 2 (a): Strike third, fourth, and fifth sentences, or strike the words "a doctor of medicine," line 16. To confine the choice of Under Secretary of Health to one school of medicine in preference to all other schools is discriminatory. 2. Section 4: Strike out paragraphs (a) and (b). Some voluntary agencies may be more discriminatory and self-serving than they are for working for public interest, thus they should not be aided by the Government. 3. Section 5 (b) Page 6, line 10, after the word "appointed", insert as follows: "Provided, That the Secretary shall include among the members of any committee or committees so set up in the field of health, representatives of voluntary organizations of national scope operating in the fields of medicine, dentistry, osteopathy, nursing, hospitalization, and such related fields as the Secretary may determine." Osteopathy is licensed and practiced in all the States. There are 6 accredited schools of osteopathy and surgery and some 200 osteopathic hospitals. These physicians serve as town, county, and city health officers, on State boards of health, school physicians, and industrial-plant physicians. Therefore, there should be osteopathic representation on advisory committees in the field of health, including health education and health security. Very truly yours, K. A. HUNT, D. O., Clerk. The CHAIRMAN. Our first witness is Dr. Caroline F. Ware. Dr. Ware, will you proceed with your testimony? STATEMENT OF DR. CAROLINE F. WARE, REPRESENTING THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CONSUMERS Dr. WARE. Mr. Chairman, the National Association of Consumers, which I represent, is interested in these bills to transform the present Federal Security Agency into a Department of Health, Education, and Security, because the Agency now performs important consumer protection functions through one of its constituent bodies, the Food and Drug Administration. The Food and Drug Administration is one of the most important of the consumer protective services in the Federal Government, and therefore we believe the consumer-protection functions which it represents should be protected and clearly recognized. We believe that this function should be recognized in the legislation and that the way should be kept open for expansion of consumer services within the new Department whenever in the future Congress may deem expansion of such services to be desirable. In view of our special interest in the consumer-protection function, we strongly oppose S. 140 and we support S. 712. We oppose S. 140 because it fails to recognize the consumer-protection function of the Federal Security Agency, and it establishes a rigid departmental organization which leaves it out. This bill, in setting up three separate divisions within the new Department, would fit every existing bureau and presumably all future bureaus into one of the three divisions. The Food and Drug Administration, which is a potential nucleus for a consumer protection division, is placed in the Health Division. Of course, the program of the Food and Drug Administration does have a health aspect, but its primary purpose is to protect the consumer against fraud and misrepresentation. I think that is perfectly clear from the nature of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which is 1 An act to prohibit the movements in interstate commerce of adulterated and misbranded foods, drugs, devices, cosmetics, and for other purposes. It is clearly a consumer protection function. If the primary concern of the Division were health it would, of course, not be to assure consumers of information about the product which they buy, and to provide protection against misleading claims of producers or sellers. This concern would be very incidental to any program of a Health Division. By the rigidity of the divisional organization provided in S. 140, consumer protection is excluded as a departmental functon except as an incidental product of other activity. No one of the three divisions, neither Health nor Education nor Security, can be expected to be oriented toward consumer protection. The structure leaves no room for any other activities except those focused within these three areas. While we agree with the general proposition that the health, education, security, and consumer protection functions should be accorded departmental status, we believe it would be better to leave the Federal Security Agency in its present form, without cabinet status, than to freeze its future development in the rigid and undesirable way provided for by S. 140. S. 140 has other highly undesirable features. It requires that its objectives be carried to the fullest possible extent through State and local agencies, public and voluntary, and in such manner as to preserve and protect to the highest possible degree the independence and autonomy of State and local agencies, public and voluntary, in education, health, security, and related fields. If this provision were strictly interpreted, it might even require that the Federal administration of food and drug regulations should be subordinated to what we we know to be very inadequate State and local regulations, which cannot cope with that major consumer protection problem. We therefore wish to register our unqualified opposition to S. 140. We support S. 712 because it leaves the departmental organization to be developed administratively as the Secretary finds appropriate, and thus leaves the way open for a form of departmental organization which will recognize the consumer protection function now being carried on in the Food and Drug Administration within the Federal Security Agency, and which will provide a basis for its possible expansion. We have one specfic amendment to S. 712 which we wish to offer. We believe that this bill should clearly indicate that consumer protection is one of the present responsibilities of the Federal Security Agency, and that it should be a continuing responsibility of the new Department. We therefore recommend the insertion on page 2, after the words "Social Security," line 4, "and their protection as consumers.' So that the section would read: The Secretary shall have the duty of fostering and promoting the general welfare of the people of the United States in matters pertaining to their health, education, social welfare, and social security, and their protection as consumers— and so forth. In our prepared statement, of which you have a copy, we have set forth for the record our reasons for urging that the way be left open for the expansion of consumer services in the Federal Government and the background of this recommendation. I will not take the committee's time to go through this in my oral testimony. That is being presented for the record. The CHAIRMAN. Your paper will be placed in the record. Dr. WARE. We have pointed out certain things in this statement. We have pointed out in the first place that service to the consumer is consistent with the general governmental structure which recognizes the principle of services to economic groups in order to enable them to function more effectively. We have noted that, to a limited extent, there has been such recognition and provision of consumer services through the work of several Federal agencies, but that for many years the insufficiency of these services has been recognized by the consumer groups, by Congress, by the President, by various agency executives, and by those responsible for reviewing the organization and operation of all agencies of the Federal Government. We have listed the special provisions for the protection of consumer interests which Congress or administrators have established in recent years in connection with specific programs-NRA, AAA, Bituminous |