Posted on 04/12/2022 6:59:32 PM PDT by algore
The Food and Drug Administration is grappling with field mice at its headquarters, an infestation exacerbated by food left behind in offices that have been largely unoccupied during the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency confirmed to POLITICO.
Pest-control problems in Washington-area buildings were not unusual prior to the pandemic; indeed, mouse traps are frequently spotted inside the Capitol. And two former FDA officials told POLITICO that mice have long taken refuge inside the agency’s sprawling Silver Spring, Md., campus, known as White Oak.
But the rodent problem worsened during the pandemic, forcing the agency to assign some employees returning to the campus after two years to temporary desks and ask others to continue to telework.
“It is accurate that food products left behind in offices when maximum telework was implemented is a contributing factor to offices with pest control issues,” FDA spokesperson Stephanie Caccomo said.
Maintenance staff cannot enter individual offices on campus due to the agency’s work on “sensitive and national security information,” Caccomo added.
Less than 10 percent of office building space at the White Oak campus is affected by the field mice issue, according to the agency. The mice are inside the Office of the Commissioner, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
“Employees assigned to offices that have pest control concerns are either being provided temporary office space or being asked to maintain full-time telework until such time their assigned office is ready for their return,”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
This is great news. Maybe the mice can ask more intelligent questions for new device and drug approvals than do the humans at the FDA.
DC is chock full of ‘Rats.
Plus pretty swampy.
Rats in DC?
Who’d a think it?
But the rodent problem worsened during the pandemic...
—
Indeed. D.C. is swarming with rodents.
My son works at a nasa facility.
About a year after the lockdown began he had to go in and got his guts up to open the refrigerator.
He said the half cup of subway soup was especially stunning in the growth on the lid.
I have heard McDonald’s food has much better long term preservation profiles
“I have heard McDonald’s food has much better long term preservation profiles”
I can confirm that. I have hid McDonald’s little hamburgers in a guys bunker coat pocket at work and they looked pretty much the same when he found them some weeks later.
Mice occupy FDA offices after food left behind... by Rats... in pandemic.
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