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Kansas City, MO – Members of the private organization that sets FDA standards for pharmaceuticals and food ingredients are gathering in Kansas City this week. KCUR's Elana Gordon reports.
U.S. Pharmacopeia, or USP, establishes the criteria that food and drug products must meet in order to be sold in the U.S. Kansas native Darrell Abernethy is USP's Chief Science Officer and says representatives from the drug industry, the FDA, and other agencies are meeting in Kansas City to review those quality measures. He says one big area of focus will be the standards for detecting toxic metals, like mercury and lead, in various products.
Abernethy: The current method of measurement of metals is relatively insensitive and not as specific for those metals of interest.
Abernethy says USP hopes to have those new specifications finalized within the next year and a half.
Funding for health care coverage on KCUR has been provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City.
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