Plan B Effort Falls Short

I was asked to sign a petition thanking the FDA for approving the use of Plan B emergency contraception yesterday. Whether I support the decision or not was not the issue. I would not sign the petition because I do not think the FDA deserves praise for anything. I am disappointed that all those who were pro and con Plan B didn’t take a moment to look at the failures of the agency across the board, and put some energy into fixing it.

Recently, Representative Henry Waxman issued a report that stated that the FDA had issued fifty per cent fewer warnings to pharmaceutical companies between 2000 and 2005. Scientists report being muzzled in a multitude of ways; their science placed on the scrap heap to allow financial gain for the pharmaceutical industry. People who testify that their sons or daughters have been killed by pharmaceutical drugs have, for the most part, been brushed aside. Rarely does the agency agree to require warnings to be placed on labels so that an individual or family can make an informed decision about a drug without having to hope that a doctor might tell them of risks.

Drugs are seldom removed from the market, no matter what the data might show. The FDA has turned into the lapdog of the pharmaceutical industry as opposed to the protector of public health that it was set up to be.