Romney’s lax regulation may have fueled meningitis outbreak

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/30/romneys_lax_regulation_fueled_meningitis_outbreak/

Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 07:45 AM EDT
by Craig Unger

The fatal meningitis epidemic sweeping the United States can now be traced to the failure of then-Gov. Mitt Romney to adequately regulate the Massachusetts pharmaceutical company that is being blamed for the deaths.

At least 344 people in 18 states have been infected by the growing public health crisis and 25 have died so far.

But the epidemic may also play a role in the presidential campaign, now that state records reveal that a Massachusetts regulatory agency found that the New England Compounding Co., the pharmaceutical company tied to the epidemic, repeatedly failed to meet accepted standards in 2004 — but a reprimand was withdrawn by the Romney administration in apparent deference to the company’s business interests.

“It goes all the way up to Mitt Romney,” said Alyson Oliver, a Michigan attorney representing victims of the outbreak. According to Oliver, on at least six occasions, NECC was cited by authorities for failure to meet regulatory standards and almost subjected to a three-year probation. “It goes directly to the heart of what Romney says about regulation, ‘Hands off. Let the companies do their thing.’”

“When the person who is supposed to be in charge of oversight does not believe oversight is necessary, this is what happens,” Oliver added.

“The philosophy of the Romney administration was to have lax regulations across the board,” Philip Johnston, a former secretary of health and human services in Massachusetts before the Romney administration, told Salon. “It speaks volumes about the tragic outcome of Romney’s view on regulatory issues. There are two dozen people who died needlessly. It was clearly the responsibility of the company to protect them, but it was also the responsibility of the government at various levels, and, as far as I’m concerned, they failed.”

.....

The owners of NECC have made campaign donations both to Romney and to Massachusetts Republican senatorial candidate Scott Brown, Salon has learned.

.....

WCVB-TV in Boston has reported that NEC president Greg Coniglario hosted a fundraiser for Sen. Scott Brown, bringing in $37,000 for the Brown campaign against Elizabeth Warren. Conigliaro and members of his family have reportedly given $10,000 of their own money to Brown.

In July, Brown was one of 10 senators to sign a letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency arguing that regulations on the compounding industry should be loosened.

Conigliaro also contributed $2,500 to the Romney for president campaign.