Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security

Republican Office

Oversight Action

I believe Congress should be committed to conducting meaningful oversight when it comes to examining how Washington spends your hard-earned tax dollars. It is imperative our government run as efficiently and effectively as possible in order to meet the many challenges facing our nation. To that end, I continue to work toward eliminating the fiscal waste and abuse found throughout the government bureaucracy, and ask members of Congress and citizens across the country will join me in this effort to demand transparency and accountability in the federal budget.

Reports: As part of this oversight initiative, I am working to release a series of oversight reports on federal agencies. I hope agencies and other congressional committees alike will welcome this oversight and work with us to help identify even more areas of waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as new ways to better prioritize our nation’s limited financial resources. To view these oversight reports, please visit the “Investigative Reports” page:
Government Waste: For examples of outrageous government waste, visit the “Your Tax Dollars at Work” and "Washington Waste of the Day" pages.

If you have discovered government waste, and want to submit a tip (anonymously, if you wish) for an area in need of oversight, please visit the "Submit a Tip About Government Waste" page:
Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency: The USASpending.gov website allows you to “google” all government grants, contracts and loans, so you can track how your money is being spent by Washington:

The information listed below is my latest oversight reports and letters. I am absolutely committed to aggressive and responsible congressional oversight of all federal spending. I will identify problems and provide information to the Congress and the public. However, it is up to the American people to demand that their elected officials respond vigorously to the findings.

Tom Coburn, M.D.

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September 11, 2006

EU Responds to Dr. Coburn on Malaria Oversight: Affirms Controlled Use of DDT for Disease Control

Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Union, recently replied to a June 28, 2006, oversight letter by Dr. Coburn, who called on the EU to end all threats (both on and off the record) of agricultural boycotts on African countries who want to use DDT to save their children, pregnant women and millions others from the deadly scourge of malaria.

The response to Dr. Coburn puts the EU on the record at the highest levels as supporting the Stockholm Convention, which “explicitly allows the use of DDT for disease control according to World Health Organization guidelines.”

Thanks to Dr. Coburn’s request, the EU is now on the record renouncing any threat of agricultural boycotts against countries that use DDT for malaria control, including Uganda. Experts are finally rallying around to support malaria treatments that work: combined regimens that include indoor residual spraying of DDT, plus effective medication (which currently means the new Artemesinin-based combination therapy, or ACT) in conjunction with other insecticides and drugs, and use of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets – the very approach that eliminated malaria from the developing world decades ago.

Dr. Coburn had asked the EU to affirm or clarify the following key points:
• No boycotts will occur if countries use DDT to save people’s lives;
• The EU supports DDT as a vital component of any malaria control program;
• Every country has an absolute right to decide which weapons to use in combating malaria and other lethal diseases; and,
• The European Union will respond vigorously against trade bans by EU nations, trade restrictions by importers and supermarket campaigns by environmental activists, if such actions are based on a country’s use of DDT for disease control.

Below are excerpts from the EU response, which you can read in full by clicking here:

It is the policy of the European Commission to recognise the responsibility of each government in its choice of appropriate malaria control techniques…. Should food consignments exported to the EU by a partner country using DDT be found to be contaminated with DDT above accepted residue levels, only the affected consignment would be withdrawn from the market. It should be noted that there have been no findings of DDT contamination in food imports of Ugandan origin and consequently no disruption in trade. This mirrors the experience with other African exporters of food and food products to the EU.... The European Commission is committed to confronting malaria in the context of poverty reduction and defends the right of all nations to set their priorities and plans for the fight against malaria.

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