State Senate Calls for Hearings on Menengitis Outbreaks

Senate President Therese Murray, Minority Leader Bruce E. Tarr, Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight Chairman Mark C. Montigny and Committee Member Senator Robert L. Hedlund announce public hearings to shed light on the outbreak of meningitis in Massachusetts.

The following is a joint statement:

“The outbreak attributed to a Massachusetts compounding agency is tragic and increasingly troublesome. While we have no intention of interfering with current investigations of the compounding agency, we do want to take immediate action to assess what state laws and regulations need to be in place to ensure the public’s health and safety in the this matter. We expect to address this serious public safety threat in a reasonable and responsible way, and will waste no time in helping to identify and correct any deficiencies in existing statutes or regulations. Clearly, a concerted effort by both state and federal authorities is needed to ensure that adequate standards and practices are in place to properly regulate these products and to ensure that they are safe for public use. Moreover, we must ensure that the people our state charges with protecting the public interest have acted properly in this case and have the capability, authority and motivation to do so in the future. We look forward to the Committee conducting an investigation and hearings on this matter to understand the nature and depth of the problem.”