FDA Commissioner To Step Down Next Month At Crucial Crossroads For Food Safety

The FDA will be going through big changes in the coming years. Less than a week after the recent legislation proposed by President Obama that would create an entirely new agency devoted to food safety inspections, FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg has announced that she will be stepping down. Dr. Hamburg headed her post for six years and has cited heavy demands of the job as well as the sheer length of her time at the FDA as her reasons for calling it quits.

"This is a very challenging job full of opportunities to make a huge and enduring difference," she told Reuters. "but it is 24/7 and there are really, really difficult decisions to make."

Her resignation comes at a significant crossroad for the FDA, which is looking to speed up new drug development, while it might also lose much of its power and say-so as far as food safety is concerned. According to NPR, most FDA commissioners have only lasted two or three years. Dr. Robert Califf, currently serving as FDA deputy commissioner for medical products and tobacco, has been cited as a likely successor.