Trump’s FDA pick sidesteps questions on abortion pill and vaccines at confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration repeatedly sidestepped questions about the abortion pill, vaccines and fruit-flavored vapes during her Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.

Dr. Heidi Overton, a preventive medicine doctor who serves as a domestic policy official in the White House, declined to say whether she personally believes the abortion pill mifepristone is safe, despite previously describing medication abortion as “dangerous to women.” She also wouldn’t say whether Trump was wrong last month when he called the measles vaccine “lethal,” even as she repeatedly affirmed that the vaccine is safe and effective. When pressed, she said that the vaccine is “not lethal.”

Throughout the hearing, senators on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee tried to pin Overton down on how she would approach the most contentious issues facing the FDA — and whether she would break with Trump when his statements conflict with the agency’s own conclusions.

“You’ve done a pretty good job at avoiding answering questions,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said when grilling Overton on the administration’s recent approval of several fruit-flavored vapes and the FDA scaling back its use of independent advisory committees.

Overton often fell back on the FDA’s…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health