WASHINGTON – Today Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Martin Makary announced an aggressive timeline to scale up the use of artificial intelligence internally across FDA centers.
According to the FDA’s press release, the AI tools will allow FDA scientists to spend less time on “tedious, repetitive tasks” that can slow the scientific review process.
Makary directed all FDA centers to begin deployment of the generative AI immediately, with a goal of full integration by June 30.
The following is a statement from Scott Faber, the Environmental Working Group’s senior vice president for government affairs.
Firing thousands of food safety experts and replacing them with robots will make our food less safe, not safer. If the FDA wants to make our food safer, it should quickly ban food chemicals linked to cancer and other health harms, as EWG and other allies have proposed. Simply saying our food should be safer will not make our food safer.
Putting robots in charge will not make our food safer. Banning toxic food chemicals will make our food safer. Today’s announcement is simply more evidence that states are the best hope to protect us from toxic chemicals in our food.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.