#fda

In 2004, the FDA urged drug companies to adopt a 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy with respect to their clinical-trial data showing that antidepressants are not better than placebos for depressed children. If the data were made public, they cautioned, it might lead doctors to not prescribe antidepressants. The FDA believed that the jury was still out on antidepressants for children. Even if the clinical trials show negative results, an FDA spokesperson was reported to have said to a Washington Post reporter, it doesn't mean that the drugs are ineffective. The assumption seems to have been that doctors should prescribe medications that have not been shown to work, until it has been proven that they don't work. ↗

— Irving Kirsch

#don-t-ask-don-t-tell #fda #respect

Some of the FDA's own scientists have charged that politics, not science, is behind the FDA's actions. ↗

— Joseph Crowley

#behind #charged #fda #own #politics

The FDA is redefining birth control as abortion. The FDA is setting the bar higher for this kind of drug. ↗

— Patty Murray

#bar #birth #birth control #control #fda

To speak only of food inspections: the United States currently imports 80% of its seafood, 32% of its fruits and nuts, 13% of its vegetables, and 10% of its meats. In 2007, these foods arrived in 25,000 shipments a day from about 100 countries. The FDA was able to inspect about 1% of these shipments, down from 8% in 1992. In contrast, the USDA is able to inspect 16% of the foods under its purview. By one assessment, the FDA has become so short-staffed that it would take the agency 1,900 years to inspect every foreign plant that exports food to the United States. ↗

— Marion Nestle

#food #food-inspection #food-safety #the-fda-is-a-joke #food

Food safety oversight is largely, but not exclusively, divided between two agencies, the FDA and the USDA. The USDA mostly oversees meat and poultry; the FDA mostly handles everything else, including pet food and animal feed. Although this division of responsibility means that the FDA is responsible for 80% of the food supply, it only gets 20% of the federal budget for this purpose. In contrast, the USDA gets 80% of the budget for 20% of the foods. This uneven distribution is the result of a little history and a lot of politics. ↗

— Marion Nestle

#food #food-regulation #food-safety #usda #food

The simple truth is, the short-term solution is for the FDA to allow more importation of safe vaccines from other nations. But the long-term solution is to get more vaccine production within the U.S. ↗

— Larry Craig

#fda #get #importation #long-term #more

We have the opportunity to provide the first FDA reviewed and approved over-the-counter option that can help people lose weight and make changes to their lifestyle and diet. ↗

— Steve Burton

#changes #diet #fda #first #help

If a State has reliable scientific information that demonstrates that a warning is needed for a particular food, then in the interest of public health, it should share that information with the FDA and petition for a new national standard. ↗

— Nathan Deal

#fda #food #health #information #interest