I have known Dr. Doyle as a food safety colleague for 25 years and I believe that he would bring the integrity, scientific knowledge, insight, and leadership to do a great job if he is so appointed. I'm liking the direction that food safety policy and regulation seems to be heading currently. I am aware of many of Dr. Doyle's views on effective food safety approaches and I agree with them. I guess everyone has their critics, and that's probably a good thing. It tends to make us work harder.

Well said Dr. Powell! Upon reading the Foodorama blog on Dr. Doyle, I had some of the same thoughts that you articulated. 1) Who typically funds research? I would venture to guess that the government and large corporations are among the largest sources of funding. 2) What????????s wrong with holding patents? Last time I checked, all research is not pursued for the mere sake of self enlightenment.However, a little research about the blogger who wrote the unfair piece about Dr. Doyle reveals a few things about her agenda (surprise, surprise that she would have an agenda!). First and foremost, she appears to favor the advancement of organic food causes at all costs. This helps explain the lack of mention of anything scientific among her slanderous assault on Dr. Doyle????????s character. While her website purports to be devoted to food safety (along with a seemingly unhealthy obsession with all things Obama???????a rare combination for sure!), she displays a total ignorance for food safety and science in general.The second item of note about the blogger is that she favors a lawyer to be appointed to head the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. Excuse me? Who in her right mind would favor appointing a lawyer who presumably knows little to nothing about science, research, etc. to be in charge of the safety of our country????????s food supply? I can think of a long list of professions that I would be more comfortable being selected for this role than a lawyer, including microbiologists (and pretty much anyone with a science-based background), professors, engineers, teachers, restaurant managers, priests, trash collectors???????I could go on. If there????????s one thing that we already have more than enough of in D.C., it????????s lawyers. I would rather have a leader who knows how to put the right preventative measures in place to prevent food poisoning outbreaks than to have a lawyer who merely knows how to press charges against corporations after outbreaks occur.As for the person (Pollo) who posted that Dr. Doyle has no experience working for a company, I????????m not sure why industry experience should be a prerequisite for the role for which Dr. Doyle is allegedly being considered. The government is undeniably NOT run like a business! However, for what it????????s worth, I happen to know for a fact that Dr. Doyle worked for a publicly traded American corporation before he began his distinguished career in academia.In conclusion, the blogger clearly lacks credibility, but I guess she has a right to voice her opinion (especially since she appears to be buddy-buddy with a lawyer who can defend her when she slanders the wrong person), but I think it????????s a testament to Dr. Doyle that he has colleagues like Dr. Powell who take time to defend his name???????regardless of how much the Foodorama blogger lacks credibility.