Pharmaceutical According to contingency plans drawn up by the USA’s Department of Health and Human Services, 45% of the Food and Drug Administration’s nearly 15,000 staff were to be furloughed in the absence of enacted annual appropriations – popularly referred to as a government shutdown, say Ricardo Carvajal and Kurt Karst on law firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara’s FDA Law Blog, commenting on the stalemate resulting from the failure of agreement on the US budget. 2 October 2013