Archives for December 2011

MSNBC.com: FDA Cracks Down on DIY Sperm Donor

Read the full story here. NBC News

“The Food and Drug administration is working to put an end to a California’ man’s free sperm donation operation. Trent Arsenault, who has provided more than 350 donations and fathered 14 children through them, tells KNTV’s Traci Grant he’s just “helping people in need.”

. . .

Last year, federal Food and Drug Administration officials delivered a letter ordering Arsenault to “cease manufacturing,” or halt his service, because the computer security expert had not followed regulations governing safety precautions for transmission of human cells or tissues through donor clinics.“We have legitimate concerns,” said Shelly Burgess, a spokeswoman for the FDA.But Arsenault was allowed to continue the operation while the agency decided whether to grant him a hearing on the matter, according to his lawyers.The lawyers, who work for the nonprofit legal firm Cause of Action in Washington, D.C., argue that Arsenault shouldn’t be held to clinic sperm donor standards because his contracts with recipients are individual intimate partner arrangements allowed under the law.”

 


 

CoA Asks National Archives to Release FCIC Records

Potential Conflicts of Interest Abound Between FCIC Staff and Outside Entities Involved in Suing Banks Targeted by FCIC

Cause of Action sent a Freedom of Information Act Request to the National Archives seeking the release of records it maintains from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, the body tasked with investigating the causes of the 2008 financial crisis.  Prior to the release of the Commisssion’s report, U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) raised questions concerning the potential conflicts of interest that existed between Commission staff and several outside entities involved in suing banks targeted by FCIC.  Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) recently released a report finding that several of the decisions of the FCIC may have been politically motivated.

Read CoA’s request here.

Department of Defense

09/23/2011 – U.S. Navy – Use of White House Cafeteria for Political Events

Department of Energy

FOIA request to the Department of Energy regarding use of  funds under the Energy Policy Act

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Homeland Security

Department of the Interior

09/09/2011 – Regulatory Flexibility Act Compliance