Viewpoint: Life and death decisions: RFK, Jr.’s shady FDA “expert panels” operate in secret with no transcripts or conflict of interest reviews

Americans trust the Food and Drug Administration to make life-and-death decisions in the open. Yet in recent months, the agency has increasingly convened ad-hoc “expert panels” that meet without Federal Register notice, formal transcripts, standard conflict of interest reviews, or recorded votes. 

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This shift from advisory committees to “expert” panels isn’t bureaucratic streamlining — it’s a retreat from transparency, scientific rigor, and public accountability.

Advisory committees, to be sure, are no walk in the park. Meetings can run long, financial-conflict screening sometimes sidelines key voices, and the paperwork mandated by the 1972 Federal Advisory Committee Act [FACA] can feel like regulatory Velcro. Yet those very frictions serve a purpose: They force the agency to disclose data, document dissent, and let clinicians, patients, and the public watch the sausage being made. 

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Congress should act before this becomes institutionalized. Lawmakers could amend FACA to clarify that any FDA meeting convened to offer regulatory advice — no matter what it’s called — must comply with FACA’s transparency and balance requirements. 

This is an excerpt. Read the original post here