Pharmacy head pleads Fifth at meningitis outbreak hearing WASHINGTON Barry Cadden, the owner and director of the specialty pharmacy tied to deadly fungal meningitis outbreak declined to testify Wednesday morning before a congressional committee investigating the matter. Cadden, co-founder of the New England Compound Center, told lawmakers he would use his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions in order to avoid self-incrimination. Congressional hearing to be held on meningitis outbreak After repeated questioning by House lawmakers, Cadden told the House Energy and Commerce Committee: "Under advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer under basis of my constitutional rights and privileges, including the Fifth Amendment." Lawmakers continued to ask Cadden questions about the contamination of steroids used to treat patients -- many for back pain -- that has sickened nearly 430 people with fungal meningitis and caused 32 deaths. Another 10 patients have peripheral joint infections from injections. A recent investigation of the NECC facility in Framingham, Mass. found numerous sterility issues, including bacterial contamination and mold growth in areas where drugs are prepared. Compounded drugs are supposed to be prepared in temperature-controlled clean rooms to maintain sterility. The pharmacy has recalled all the products it makes, including about 17,700 single-dose vials of a steroid that tested positive for the fungus tied to the outbreak. Fungal meningitis causes inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Cadden appeared immediately after the widow of a longtime Kentucky judge, who was the first confirmed victim of the outbreak. Speaking without notes, Joyce Lovelace told lawmakers of more than 50 years of marriage to 78-year-old Eddie C. Lovelace, who was a circuit judge until he died Sept. 17 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She asked lawmakers to implement laws to police companies like the New England Compounding Center, which distributed steroids that tested positive for contamination. My family is bitter, we are angry, we are heartbroken and devastated. I come here begging you to do something about the matter. They are typically overseen by state pharmacy boards, though the Food and Drug Administration occasionally steps in when major problems arise. Some pharmacies have grown into much larger businesses in the last 20 years, supplying bulk orders of medicines to hospitals that need a steady supply of drugs on hand. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg asked lawmakers Wednesday to give her agency more authority and funding to oversee compounding pharmacies. "FDA's authority over compounding pharmacies is limited by law and is not suited to effectively regulate the evolving compounding industry," Hamburg said, in a statement released ahead of the hearing in D.C.. We need a clear path forward that is proactive and preventive. Hamburg says Congress should put in place a two-tier system in which traditional compounding pharmacies continue to be regulated at the state level, but larger pharmacies would be subject to FDA oversight. Pharmacies that ship bulk product or produce complex drugs would have to register with the FDA and undergo regular inspections, similar to pharmaceutical manufacturers. These non-traditional compounding pharmacies would also have to meet the more stringent manufacturing standards required of pharmaceutical companies. "In light of growing evidence of threats to the public health, the administration urges Congress to strengthen standards for non-traditional compounding," Hamburg states in her testimony. CBS Evening News correspondent Jim Axelrod reported on Tuesday that Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., who chairs the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee investigating the outbreak, had expected Cadden to take the Fifth Amendment and stay silent. One incident he was hoping to get answers on occurred in September 2004, when FDA investigators asked Cadden if he had "Trypan Blue" solution on hand. The product is not approved by the FDA. The CBS News' Investigate Team's Laura Strickler reports that investigators then found a drawer labeled Tryban Blue that contained 189 vials of the drug. When presented with their findings, Cadden reportedly became "indignant" and told the company's co-owner Greg Conigliaro to no longer answer the investigators' questions.