Cotton Introduces Bill to Bar Adversarial Foreign Nationals from FDA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353
October 13, 2025

Cotton Introduces Bill to Bar Adversarial Foreign Nationals from FDA

Washington, DC — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) last week introduced legislation to protect American food and medicine from adversarial foreign nationals. The American Medicine Safety and Security Act will prohibit the Food and Drug Administration from employing individuals with ties to China, Russia, or Iran.

“The oversight of our food and medicine is too important to allow corruption from adversarial foreign nationals. My bill will establish safeguards at FDA to protect Americans’ health and intellectual property,” said Senator Cotton.

Text of the bill can be found here.

The American Medicine Safety and Security Act would:

• Prohibit FDA from employing Chinese, Russian, or Iranian nationals.
• Require FDA employees to report whether their immediate family members are Chinese, Russian, or Iranian nationals.
• Prohibit FDA employees from working for entities operating in China, Russia, or Iran for 10 years following their employment at FDA.
• Prohibit FDA employees from accessing drug or device data housed within divisions outside of the one in which they are employed if:
  • They formerly worked at an entity based in China, Russia, or Iran.
  • A member of their immediate family is a Chinese, Russian, or Iranian national.

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