FDA IVM "you are not a horse" tweet
| Tracking # |
2023-139 FDA22088796 |
| Submitted | Dec. 29, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Chris von Csefalvay
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
In respect of the following tweet: https://twitter.com/us_fda/status/1429050070243192839 from the FDA's official account:
1. Please identify the author of the tweet.
2. Please identify if this tweet has been subject to review by a licensed physician or pharmacist, and who the reviewer or reviewers were. Please provide any documents, e.g. e-mails, that discuss this tweet.
3. Please provide the procedure by which tweets on the FDA's official account are approved, including whether there is an approval algorithm and whether there is a need for tweets to be reviewed by a medical professional if they pertain to medical information.
4. Please explain what procedures are in place to prevent FDA's Twitter account from publishing misleading medical information, and whether such procedures (a) were in place at the time of the tweet, (b) have since been instituted.
5. Please provide a list, with positions, of all individuals who have access to the FDA's Twitter account.
6. As you might know, while ivermectin proved unsuitable for COVID-19, it is a very widely used drug in human medicine for various infectious disease indications, e.g. onchocerciasis (river blindness), and the FDA's portrayal of ivermectin as a "horse" or "cow" medicine ignores both its use in other animals (esp. dogs) and its use in human populations across esp. the developing world. Please identify whether there is a risk assessment procedure for misinformation risks flowing from communications on the FDA's Twitter account.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Chris von Csefalvay
From: Food and Drug Administration
*** This is an automated message. Please do not reply to this email. ***
Reference: FDA22088796
Dear Requester,
This is to confirm that you submitted a request for record(s) from the Food and Drug Administration
pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA staff will review your request to determine whether it has sufficient information to be processed;
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If your request is not sufficiently described,
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From: Food and Drug Administration
Control number: 2023-139
Please find the attached acknowledgement regarding your FOIA request. Note: Do NOT reply directly to this E-mail
From: Food and Drug Administration
Dear Requester,
FDA has completed processing your request regarding an FDA tweet. To the extent your request asks questions about FDA's Twitter policies, that is outside the scope of FOIA. To the extent you are seeking records about this tweet (the second part of item 2 of your request), these records are posted at:
https://www.fda.gov/media/160265/download
You have the right to appeal this determination. By filing an appeal, you preserve your rights under FOIA and give the agency a chance to review and reconsider your request and the agency's decision. Your appeal must be mailed within 90 days from the date of this response, to: Director, Office of the Executive Secretariat, US Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050, Rockville, MD 20857, E-mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov>. Please clearly mark both the envelope and your letter "FDA Freedom of Information Act Appeal."
If you would like to discuss our response before filing an appeal to attempt to resolve your dispute without going through the appeals process, please contact me at 301-796-8976 or Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:Sarah.Kotler@fda.hhs.gov>.
Please contact me if you have questions about your request. You may also contact the FDA FOIA Public Liaison for assistance at: Office of the Executive Secretariat, US Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050, Rockville, MD 20857, E-mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov>.
You may also contact the FDA FOIA Public Liaison for assistance at: Office of the Executive Secretariat, US Food & Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1050, Rockville, MD 20857, E-mail: FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov<mailto:FDAFOIA@fda.hhs.gov>.
If you are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through our FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), the Federal FOIA Ombudsman's office, offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, MD 20740-6001; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile at 202-741-5769; e-mail at ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>.
Sincerely,
.
Sarah B. Kotler, J.D.
Director, Division of Freedom of Information
US FDA
301-796-8976
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