Federal Reports

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of several Federal agencies that ship and receive select agents. Select agents are biological agents or toxins that HHS and the Department of Agriculture have determined pose a threat to humans, animals, plants, or the environment. In 2015, another Federal agency found that one of its facilities had inadvertently shipped live Bacillus anthracis, a select agent which causes the deadly disease anthrax, to 194 laboratories in the United States and other countries. In response to these events, we initiated a review of the policies, procedures, and protocols FDA implemented to ensure the safe shipment of select agents to and from its laboratories.

We issued this to determine whether the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) policy for averaging earnings ensured staff made accurate and consistent substantial gainful activity (SGA) determinations.