CDC Director Resigns Amid Reports of Tobacco Stock Trade

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced on January 31, 2018, that Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald would resign as the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The statement read, “Dr. Fitzgerald owns certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all of her duties as the CDC Director. Due to the nature of these financial interests, Dr. Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period.” The decision came a day after Politico reported that she bought stock in a large tobacco company within a month of starting her job as the head of the CDC, the agency that oversees programs aimed at reducing tobacco use and smoking. Fitzgerald bought stocks worth tens of thousands of dollars in at least a dozen companies a month after assuming CDC leadership on July 7, 2017, and continued to purchase stocks in later months. One of these companies was Japan Tobacco, which sells tobacco in the U.S. through four of its subsidiaries. She also purchased stocks in Merck & Co., Bayer, health insurance company Humana, and US Food Holding Company. Before accepting her leadership role at the CDC, she held stocks in five other tobacco companies — Reynolds American, British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands, Phillip Morris International, and Altria Group. According to Politico, Fitzgerald participated in meetings focused on the opioid crisis, hurricane response efforts, ca...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news