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Hulebak Elected Codex Vice-Chairperson
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Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Steven Cohen
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WASHINGTON, July 19, 2005 - USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond announced
today that Dr. Karen Hulebak, Senior Advisor for Scientific Affairs at the Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS), was elected a Vice-Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission during the organization's 28th
Session in Rome.
"The United States and the international community are fortunate to have someone of Dr. Hulebak's experience
and expertise in this important role," Dr. Raymond said. "I commend Dr. Hulebak for her previous work on
Codex issues and look forward to the progress the Commission will make under her leadership."
FSIS Acting Administrator Dr. Barbara Masters congratulated Dr. Hulebak on her election and noted her past efforts to
strengthen Codex.
"Dr. Hulebak has led the way in reaching out to countries in this hemisphere and encouraging them to become involved
in Codex issues," Masters said.
Hulebak has been active in the Commission for a number of years and served most recently as the chairperson of
the Committee on Food Hygiene. The Codex Alimentarius Commission has one chairperson and three vice-chairpersons
who are elected for one Session of the Commission. They are eligible for re-election only once.
"I am deeply honored to have been chosen for a leadership position by the more than 170 member states of Codex,"
Hulebak said. "I am committed to helping to move this great organization towards increasingly rigorous science- and
risk-based decision making at an ever more efficient pace."
Codex was created in 1963 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World
Health Organization (WHO). Codex develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice in order to protect the health
of consumers, ensure fair food trade practices and promote coordination of food standards work undertaken by international
governmental and non-governmental organizations. The U.S. Codex office is headquartered at USDA in the Office of the Under
Secretary for Food Safety.
Other officers elected at the 28th Session include Chairperson Dr. Claude J.S. Mosha of Tanzania; Vice-Chairperson Dr. W.H.
(Wim) van Eck of the Netherlands; and Vice-Chairperson Dr. Noraini Dato'Mohd Othman of Malaysia.
Prior to being named FSIS Science Advisor, Dr. Hulebak served as the FSIS Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public
Health Science. Before joining FSIS in March 1999, Dr. Hulebak was Senior Science Policy Advisor and Director of the Policy
Research Staff in the Commissioner's Office at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where she played a central role
in the development and management of the President's Food Safety Initiative. Between 1985-1990, Dr. Hulebak directed the
National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council's Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology program of risk and
exposure assessment
studies.
Dr. Hulebak received her doctorate in toxicology from the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in 1983, and was a
postdoctoral research fellow in pharmacology at the University of North Carolina Biomedical Research Center. She received her
bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
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