By Zach Fox, Denver Post Staff Writer

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A coalition of local politicians renewed efforts Tuesday to block the closing of the Denver office of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The district office is among seven labs the FDA plans to close nationwide, a move that Congress criticized in light of the FDA's failure to prevent recent spinach and pet-food contaminations.

"It's perplexing why at a time with such a heightened need for food safety we would close these offices that have such expertise," said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who is vice chairwoman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which conducted a congressional hearing on the matter Tuesday.

DeGette has joined with Rep. Ed Perlmutter and Sen. Ken Salazar, fellow Colorado Democrats, to form a coalition that has demanded information from the FDA and attempted to prevent closing of the Denver office.

"We've been presented with no hard evidence that closing or consolidating the offices would improve science or save money," DeGette said.

FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach said the plan to consolidate offices would save money and modernize the FDA's technology, increasing efficiency.

Salazar pushed for a bill in May that would have postponed the closing of any FDA offices until a report by the Government Accountability Office analyzed potential negative effects.

"We want to evaluate what closing one means, and we believe closing the one in Denver is very concerning and places a strain on our food-safety inspection," said Cody Wertz, spokesman for the senator.

DeGette said closing the office could also result in a weakening of national security. The office is the only one in the Rocky Mountain region that is part of the Food Emergency Response Network.

FERN is charged with identifying and isolating the source of contamination in the event of a terrorist poisoning of the nation's food supply.

The majority of Denver's staff of about 50 scientists and investigators would not be willing to relocate, which would result in a "brain drain" on the FDA, wrote B. Belinda Collins, director of the Denver office.

She pointed to Denver's role in managing the pet-food crisis.

The congressional committee's sharp criticism also came because of a bipartisan perception that the FDA is not responsive to Congress' demands for information, DeGette said.

"They just blithely haven't responded to any of these requests, and Dr. von Eschenbach had no explanation for that," she said.