Dr. David Kessler, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner who has fought for the regulation of tobacco, worked to standardize nutrition labeling and taken steps to speed the federal drug approval process, has decided to resign after six tumultuous years at the agency, FDA officials said Monday.
Kessler said that he was stepping down for personal and family reasons and because he felt he had completed the work he had hoped to do at the agency. Appointed by President Bush in 1990, Kessler was reappointed to the post by President Clinton four years ago.In accepting his resignation, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala said: "David is what you hope for in a public servant. He actually improved public health."
But she said she had hoped Kessler would stay in the post while congressional efforts to reduce the agency's authority in an array of areas, including drug approval and food inspection, were under way.
But in the interview Kessler said: "I told the secretary that I thought I'd pushed the family as far as I can. There is a time to come and a time to leave. If you look back on what we said we'd tackle, we've been focused." Kessler said he would remain in the post until a successor was found.
From the point of view of public health advocates, Kessler's six years have been a success. "He is the single most important FDA commissioner, a public health giant," said Matthew Myers, the executive director of the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids. "He revitalized a moribund agency, and by moving the FDA into tobacco, he may be responsible for saving more lives than any other official in the last quarter decade."
But in the process Kessler also made enemies, not just in the tobacco industry, which has vigorously opposed his efforts to regulate the sale of tobacco as a drug, but also among conservatives who say he favors too much governmental regulation. Some who hailed his arrival at the agency when it was demoralized and in disarray have since turned against him.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for whom Kessler worked in the early 1980s and who backed him for the commissioner's job, became a persistent critic. Earlier this year, Hatch described Kessler to reporters as self-aggrandizing and nakedly political. "If I have a big criticism of David," he said, "it is that he loves publicity and seeks it."
During the presidential campaign, Bob Dole made the ouster of Kessler one of his campaign promises. Seldom does an agency head gain such attention.
In a prepared statement Sen. Wendell Ford, D-Ky., said he was not sorry to see Kessler go because of his "punitive policies against our tobacco farmers."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said he thought Kessler's decision was well-timed. "Dr. Kessler's effectiveness was diminishing," he said. "In his appearances before my committee, he defended what the agency was doing instead of getting to the bottom of it. His departure makes it easier to do real bipartisan FDA reform."
Kessler, who is both a pediatrician and a lawyer and has an advanced business degree, said he had no immediate plans, although those who know him say he would be interested in the presidency of a medical school.