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The F.D.A. in Crisis: It Needs More Money and Talent
News Type: Event — Seeded on Sun Feb 3, 2008 9:31 PM EST
Article Source: The New York Timesadvertisement
This story was reported by me here at Newsvine on December 14, 2007 along with a link to the FDA Confidential Report. It's linked below just so you know the news does get here first!!
The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to be Americans' main line of defense against tainted food, drugs, medical devices and other products — in a world abounding with tainted goods. So it was especially chilling last week to hear the agency's former chief counsel, Peter Barton Hutt, tell a Congressional panel that the F.D.A. was "barely hanging on by its fingertips."
That warning was supported by several equally grim authoritative reports and other expert testimony that made clear that the agency does not have enough money or enough skilled scientists to do its job.
In a hearing before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, members of the agency's own scientific advisory board outlined the F.D.A.'s many weaknesses. It lacks scientists who understand rapidly emerging technologies — including genomics and nanotechnology — relevant to product safety. The agency is further hobbled by a high turnover rate of scientists, a decrepit information technology system, a weak organizational structure, and a shrinking inspection force.
The Government Accountability Office, meanwhile, warns that at a time when imports are pouring in from all over the globe, the agency does not have enough staff or adequate computer systems to conduct timely inspections of foreign plants that make drugs, medical devices and food products. That is especially worrisome in China, the source of so many dangerous goods. At its current pace, the agency would take 13 years to inspect every foreign drug plant exporting to the United States, 27 years to check every foreign medical device plant and 1,900 years to inspect every foreign food plant.
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{"commentId":1432623,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
What the Times is alluding to but the FDA Confidential Report goes into great detail about, is the crisis in food safety, especially with regard to the genetically modified foods and pharma crops! Surprise who's been panicked about that for so long? We have hundreds of varieties that have never been subjected to human health or safety testing and preliminary results from independent and foreign testing shows them to be deadly dangerous.
Here's my article The FDA in Crisis and the pdf report.
{"commentId":1432623,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
#1 - Sun Feb 3, 2008 9:37 PM EST{"commentId":1433393,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
These failings have serious real life consequences for us every day. While the dangers of the GMO foods are something I write about frequently there are equally deadly threats in things like infant formula. The Environmental Working Group has been tracking that issue and for parents with infants and small children it's something to be aware of.
Due to pressure from EWG, Henry Waxman and consumers NIH finally investigated the conflict of interest adding safety claims for BPA levels in the baby formula. The full reports are here and the latest update. There's a tab that gives parents alternatives and safety tips and if you feed an infant formula you should check it out, even toddlers for the contents leeching from nipples and bottles, nasty stuff this chemical industry influence.
{"commentId":1433393,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1439170,"authorDomain":"atonhunter"}
Huh?
It Needs More Money and Talent
Shouldn't that be: It Needs Ethics?
But, why would I raise my hopes so high high for the NYTimes rag...
{"commentId":1439170,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"atonhunter"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1439275,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
They do need laboratory and testing facilities, staff with more expertise. As I try to remind people 90% of these Agencies are staffed with very able and dedicated employees, it is the appointees and top tier who corrupt the results, fire the whistleblowers and in general undermine the effectiv functioning of the regulatory process.
Congress exacerbates those problems by doing things like the FDA Modernization Act that allowed for health claims on foods with the flimsiest of evidence. Really the fault lies in Congress and the White House for appointing the industry to make the regulators into marketing operations.
Union of Concerned Scientists among others battles it on behalf of scientific integrity across all Federal disciplines but Common Dreams had a great article about the problem back in 2004. What was bad has become a nightmare under Bush, as with so many things, we're dying for profits.
{"commentId":1439275,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1434649,"authorDomain":"hamid"}
Pamela,
Yes, I remember your seed breaking this news almost two months ago, and much better done than this NYT article I might add. That pdf report is even more scary than this article mentions, and did you notice that the author didn't mention the 900 pound gorilla in the room, namely, corruption? The journal Science reported last year that 70% of the panel members that decide the safety and efficacy of prospective drugs have conflicts of interest, in other words, they either own stock in the very companies whose drugs they are judging or they are at risk of losing valuable research grants.
{"commentId":1434649,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"hamid"}
- 2 votes
#2 - Mon Feb 4, 2008 1:36 PM EST{"commentId":1434689,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
It boggles my mind how the news can ignore what's happening. In another column I write I just did a story about the BPA levels in the infant formula and the ABC news used ACSH as the group to offer assurances that the FDA ruling of safety was fine. How people can worry about what's happening to Brittany Spears. Here's who funds that!
* ALCOA Foundation * Allied Signals Foundation, Inc. * American Cyanamid Company * American Meat Institute * Amoco Foundation, Inc. * Anheuser-Busch Foundation * Archer Daniels Midland Company * Ashland Oil Foundation * Boise Cascade Corporation * Bristol-Myers Fund, Inc. * Burger King Corporation * Campbell Soup Company * Carnation Company * Chevron Environmental Health Center * Ciba-Geigy Corporation * Coca-Cola Company * Consolidated Edison * Cooper Industries Foundation * Adolph Coors Foundation * Crystal Trust * Shelby Cullum Davis Foundation * Dow Chemical Canada, Inc. * Dow Corning Corporation * E.I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company * Ethyl Corporation * Exxon Corporation * FMC Foundation * Ford Motor Company Fund * Frito-Lay * General Electric Foundation * General Mills, Inc. * General Motors Foundation * Gerber Products Company * Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation * Hershey Foods Corporation Fund * Heublein, Inc. * ICI Americas Inc. * Johnson & Johnson * Johnson's Wax Fund, Inc. * Kellogg Company * Ester A. and Joseph Klingenstein Fund, Inc. * David H. Koch Charitable Foundation * Kraft Foundation * Kraft General Foods (now part of Altria Group) * Licensed Beverage Information Council * Thomas J. Lipton Foundation, Inc. * M&M Mars * Merck Company Foundation * Mobil Foundation, Inc. * Monsanto Fund * National Agricultural Chemicals Association * National Dairy Council * National Soft Drink Association * National Starch and Chemical Foundation * Nestlé * Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation, Inc. * Northwood Institute * NutraSweet Company * John M. Olin Foundation Inc. * Oscar Mayer Foods * Pepsico Foundation Inc. (Pepsi-Cola) * Pfizer Inc. * Pillsbury Company * PPG Industries Foundation * Procter & Gamble Fund * Ralston Purina * Rohm & Haas Company * Salt Institute * Sarah Scaife Foundation, Inc. * Schultz Foundation * G.D. Searle Charitable Trust * Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons, Inc. * Shell Oil Company Foundation * Stare Fund * Starr Foundation * Sterling Drug, Inc. * Stouffer Company * Stroh Brewery Company * Sugar Association, Inc. * Sun Company, Inc. * Syntex Corporation * Union Carbide Corporation * Uniroyal Chemical Co. * USX Corp. * Warner-Lambert Foundation * Wine Growers of California
According to ACSH, some of its funding from the food industry dried up after those companies were acquired by Philip Morris, which does not like the position that ACSH has taken against tobacco. "ACSH's warnings about cigarette smoking resulted in the loss of substantial contributions from food manufacturers that had been acquired by tobacco companies. A metal pipe manufacturer withdrew its support after ACSH defended the safety of the proper use of plastic pipes," ACSH states on its website. [14]
Capital Research Center reports grants from:
* Abbott Laboratories * Bristol-Myers Squibb * Exxon Mobil * McDonalds * Chevron * Eastman Kodak * 3M * DuPont
{"commentId":1434689,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1434725,"authorDomain":"hamid"}
WOW, a smorgasborg of conflict of interest and misinformation. What gets me is that the Republicans and Libertarians think there's too much government regulation, in fact, it's the corporations, which they see as incapable of wrongdoing, who are doing the manipulating. How can they be so dense?
{"commentId":1434725,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"hamid"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1434698,"authorDomain":"hamid"}
Oh, I forgot to mention that the Environmental Working Group (EWG) is excellent at what they do. I went to a link of theirs you provided in another seed, Skin Deep (Cosmetics Database), which provides safety information regarding cosmetic products, I decided to test them as I knew of recent information that lists the Triclocarban, the active ingredient in many anti-bacterial products, as an endocrine disruptor. It popped up for the particular anti-bacterial soap that I use with a color coded hazard score of four, it also enumerates the ingredients and rates them individually. I didn't realize that our everyday personal hygiene products could be toxic. I strongly recommend that everyone go to that site and check their products against the database. Go EWG!
{"commentId":1434698,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"hamid"}
- 2 votes
#3 - Mon Feb 4, 2008 1:52 PM EST{"commentId":1434755,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
They are awesome, this is the work government is supposed to do!
{"commentId":1434755,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1438658,"authorDomain":"hamid"}
That's exactly what the people don't know, they believe, just as I did until recently, that the government will protect them, that is a very dangerous belief...
{"commentId":1438658,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"hamid"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":1439140,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
It's even worse, because they have gone beyond failing to protect and sold out to corporate interests. :~(
{"commentId":1439140,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":1439167,"authorDomain":"chill888"}
yes scary thx for fighting the fight - sadly "$5 thrillers" these days are based more on reality than some warped reality
{"commentId":1439167,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"chill888"}
- 2 votes
#4 - Tue Feb 5, 2008 6:33 PM EST{"commentId":1439278,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
The Hollywood antidote to the writers strike, go for the real news to produce horror thrillers? *smirk*
{"commentId":1439278,"threadId":"213507","contentId":"1275873","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}
- 2 votes
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