{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=363126", "Congressman Griffith's Weekly E-Newsletter 12.2.13", "2013-12-02", "2013", "2013-12", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Morgan Griffith", "G000568", "morgangriffith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Bipartisan Bill I Worked On Signed Into Law Last week, President Obama signed into law the Drug Quality and Security Act.\u00a0 This win for common sense came after investigations into last fall\u2019s fungal meningitis outbreak tied to tainted injections prepared by Massachusetts\u2019 New England Compounding Center (NECC). Traditional compounding pharmacies are overseen by State boards of pharmacy.\u00a0 They tend to be small mom-and-pop operations, and make custom medications based on a doctor\u2019s order. The NECC had long ago stopped operating as a traditional compounding pharmacy.\u00a0 Instead, the NECC was engaged in large-volume drug manufacturing without proper prescriptions. The NECC claimed that they were exempt from oversight by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which typically regulates the manufacturers of medicines.\u00a0 Despite the NECC\u2019s claim, I believe that the FDA clearly had the authority they needed to have regulated the NECC and prevented the fungal meningitis outbreak. Despite having received complaints from multiple States about the NECC, the FDA did not step in to investigate NECC for illegal manufacturing or share this important information with other States.\u00a0 My colleague, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), recently wrote that the Colorado State Board of Pharmacy in 2011 identified issues with the NECC, having determined that the drugs being distributed in Colorado lacked proper prescriptions.\u00a0 She continued, \u201cOur state board issued a cease-and-desist order to the NECC, and notified the Massachusetts Board as well.\u00a0 But that was all it could do; ultimately, it was not enough to stop the NECC's actions and prevent the tragic outbreak that swept across the nation a year later.\u201d Because of this oversight failure, the NECC is reported as having shipped more than 17,600 doses of the tainted steroid injection.\u00a0 FDA investigators later uncovered bacteria and mold at the NECC. But more than 750 people throughout the United States were stricken with fungal meningitis resulting from these injections.\u00a0 Nationwide, 64 people were tragically killed as a result.\u00a0 At least two of those killed were from our region, and others continue to suffer. After hearings into the outbreak, Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), Rep. DeGette, and I began working together on a bill to further define a compounding pharmacy and clarify oversight of the compounding drug manufacturing system.\u00a0 In September, after months of negotiations, we introduced the Compounding Clarity Act (H.R. 3089), which would clarify FDA authority over compounding, particularly over large-scale entities like the NECC that act as drug manufacturers. The Griffith-Green-DeGette bill served as the foundation for the compounding pharmacy inspection portion of the Drug Quality and Security Act, which the President signed into law.\u00a0 It is a bipartisan, bicameral first step to ensure the safety of compounded drugs and help save lives, eliminating perceived confusion as to the oversight of pharmacies like the NECC that have worked the system to skirt both FDA and State regulations. I will continue working on areas that need additional clarification, and will oversee the FDA\u2019s interpretation and implementation of this law. Unfortunately, for some, the Drug Quality and Security Act is too little, too late.\u00a0 And as with many proposals, the bill is not perfect.\u00a0 But it does represent consensus and common sense.\u00a0 I believe it would prevent another NECC-type outbreak from occurring. Next Group to be Regulated \u2013 Piano Teachers According to a recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) for \u201canticompetitive practices\u201d that potentially increase the price of music lessons. The MTNA is a voluntary nonprofit organization with just under 22,000 members nationwide.\u00a0 It seeks to support music instructors, primarily at-home piano teachers. The organization\u2019s non-binding code of ethics contained a provision that asked teachers to keep from recruiting pupils from other teachers.\u00a0 Apparently, to the FTC, the principle that Piano Teacher A not actively recruit students from Piano Teacher B is an underhanded, unscrupulous effort to rig the price of music lessons. Never mind this voluntary organization had never enforced its aspirational code, nor had it removed any member as a result of the code.\u00a0 Further, the offending provision has since been removed, eliminating any appearance that the organization is violating the law.\u00a0 But no matter \u2013 federal regulators are after the MTNA. I certainly don\u2019t support price-fixing.\u00a0 Are you aware of local piano teachers conspiring to corner the market and prevent cheaper piano lesson pricing?\u00a0 Is this an ill plaguing our society?\u00a0 I haven\u2019t heard of it!\u00a0 Have you?\u00a0 If you know of a similarly-evil trade monopoly trying to take over music lessons, please let my office know. Or could it be that the federal government just has too many employees? As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.\u00a0 To reach my office by email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. \n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://morgangriffith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=363126"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.561023062095046, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}