A government watchdog has uncovered that former President Joe Biden’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars sending top officials to a conference in Scotland that included diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) workshops.
The Functional Government Initiative (FGI), via a FOIA request, discovered that the Biden FDA spent an estimated $60,000 on a dozen staffers, including Senior Advisor for Health Equity Dr. Charlene Le Fauve, to attend the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco’s (SRNT’s) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, in March 2024.
While at the conference, members of the team attended a workshop that focused on the ‘stigma’ facing LGBTQ+ people in the field of tobacco research.
Topics included in that workshop, according to the FDA’s own report on the trip, included ‘how anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and discriminatory and stigmatizing environments toward LGBTQ+ populations impact tobacco use and tobacco control research’ and ‘process to develop a community-based participatory research project to address smoking cessation among transgender individuals in Argentina.’
Another topic discussed was ‘the challenges of conducting research on tobacco use in the high-stigma environment of pregnancy in a post-Dobbs era.’
Le Fauve justified the trip, in part, by claiming ‘the knowledge gained at the meeting is critical to attendees’ ability to understand emerging scientific issues that may impact their work and their ability to effectively move forward agency initiatives.’
‘The formal SRNT conference included many sessions where health equity was an identified focus and I attended several which were highly relevant, well done, and informative including the Presidential Symposium that included three presenters supporting the premise that in order to have a global impact on the tobacco smoking pandemic, nicotine and tobacco research must broaden its vision beyond wealthy countries to include research and researchers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the vast majority of the world’s people who smoke live,’ Le Fauve added.
Also present on the trip was Center for Tobacco Products Director Brian King, who was recently relieved of his duty by the Trump administration in a move that a former agency official told Fox News Digital was a result of the FDA straying from its core mission under the Biden administration and focusing on issues like DEI.
‘There were many, many failures in the key core missions for the center that needed dramatic change in new leadership,’ David Oliveira, who recently left the FDA after six years, told Fox News Digital last month, explaining that the FDA was ceding responsibility to other departments and not doing enough to crackdown on China flooding the market with illicit vapes.
FGI Communications Director Roderick Law told Fox News Digital in a statement that spending tens of thousands of dollars to send a dozen employees to a conference in Scotland is another example of the agency losing focus on its mission.
‘I, like anyone else in the world, would love to have a $60,000 vacation paid for by my employer,’ Law said.
‘Sadly, this dream became reality for 12 people on the taxpayer’s back. How can a group of government officials spend $60,000 on an LGBTQ+ workshop? How is it possible that this trip helped the agency stop illegal Chinese-made products or process applications for new products that could provide for harm reduction? This kind of waste should never happen again.’
Fox News Digital reached out to the FDA for comment.