Burr proffers political payola for pharma corps

The biggest trouble with living in North Carolina is my senators stink. Liz Dole goes without saying but I'm still figuring out Richard Burr and the more I know, the less I like him. His latest ploy to exempt the pharmaceutical industry from oversight under the guise of "protecting the public" is a case in point.

The North Carolina Republican has introduced legislation to create the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency, a new bureaucracy that would help spur research and development of drugs and vaccines to blunt the impact of a pandemic or bioterrorist attack. The agency, to be part of the Department of Health and Human Services, would get something no other agency has: a full exemption from the Freedom of Information Act.

That's less oversight than is required of the CIA, the National Security Agency or any military or intelligence organization. And before you're swayed by his explanations as to why this is a reasonable precaution, it's useful to remember that North Carolina is pharma corp central. The Research Triangle is the foundation of the economy in this part of the state and Burr is disturbingly cozy with its overlords.