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Pet Schooled Challenges FDA's Refusal To Comply With Law & Post DCM Related Records Publicly

Pet Schooled has submitted an official citizen petition to FDA, sending a warning shot to FDA about their refusal to comply with FOIA law and post frequently requested records on the public FDA FOIA reading room. This matter concerns a FOIA (freedom of information act) request for records relating to FDA's "DCM investigation." 

FDA originally refused to provide the original requestor for these records, Daniel Shulof, with the records. Mr. Shulof sued and challenged FDA's illegal refusal in federal court. FDA was forced to produce records and have been producing records in "batches" to Mr. Shulof for over a year and a half now. 

FDA has also refused to provide Pet Schooled with copies of these records, leading to another FOIA lawsuit in response to FDA's direct violation of FOIA law. 

Many other requests for the same records have been submitted to FDA. According to law, more than 3 requests for the same records requires FDA to publicly publish those records. It's unclear if FDA is attempting not to publish these records given the growing amount of serious questions surrounding this "investigation." FOIA records show that more than 3 requests for this information has been placed at FDA. However, FDA has not complied with law, and has not posted on their website these documents so every citizen can access them without having to make brand new requests for this information. 

Pet Schooled's citizen petition on this matter was provided tracking number FDA-2021-P-0027. If FDA continues to refuse to comply with federal law, and if FDA refuses to respond to this citizen petition, the matter can be brought before a federal court. 

If you wish to provide a public comment on this matter, you can do so at regulations.gov. Simply type in FDA-2021-P-0027 in the search bar, and find the comment button to submit a public comment for this specific petition. 

If you wish to put in your own direct request with FDA for these documents, you can do so at this link: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/foi/FOIRequest/requestform.cfm?mode=A

Pet Schooled highly encourages citizens to exercise their own individual rights, and request records from government agencies directly. Please don't simply "take" our word for anything. Get involved yourself! 

-Kohl Harrington

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