Michael R. Taylor

Michael R. Taylor is an American government official and the deputy commissioner for foods in the Federal Drug Administration.

Education and Career

Taylor studied political science at Davidson College, and after his BA the law program at the University of Virginia. After qualifying as a lawyer Taylor began in 1976 with the FDA to work as assistant to the Commissioner. In 1981, he joined the law firm King & Spalding, whose clients include Monsanto belonged, and built the food law and pharmacy law division on.

1991 Taylor left the office and returned to the FDA. For the decisions in his tenure heard that milk from BGH - treated cows must not be marked. 1996 Taylor went back to the private sector and worked for Monsanto as Vice President for Public Policy.

In June 2000, he joined the think tank Resources for the Future, a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Risk Management. During this period, Taylor was also active in the arbitration body Resolve, and as adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. In 2007 he became a professor of health policy at the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University.

2009 Taylor stepped down as senior advisor to the FDA commissioner back in the government service. In January 2010 he was appointed to the newly created position of deputy commissioner for foods.

In the documentary The Future of Food and Monsanto, with poison and genes Taylor is an example of the revolving door, as the lawyer for decades back and forth alternating between industry and regulators.