4 crucial ways the FDA has failed us

So what do you have to say about the six year tenure of Dr. Margaret Hamburg as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration? Maybe if we look at a couple of aspects from the mandate of the FDA, we can more accurately come up with a grade on her performance as she departs. According to the FDA’s website, its mandate is as follows.

“FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation.

FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to maintain and improve their health. FDA also has responsibility for regulating the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products to protect the public health and to reduce tobacco use by minors.

Finally, FDA plays a significant role in the Nation’s counterterrorism capability. FDA fulfills this responsibility by ensuring the security of the food supply and by fostering development of medical products to respond to deliberate and naturally emerging public health threats.”

1. Margaret Pushes Pharmaceuticals and Big Pharma Ties

When Dr. Hamburg was confirmed as Commissioner in 2009, hopes were that because of her public health background, she would take steps away from total commitment to drugs as the only sanctioned health remedy. But she quickly moved to show this was not in her plans. Her years at the FDA have been devoted to advancing prescription drugs.

Roughly 100 Americans die from prescription drug use every day, and the rise in fatalities during the last several years is astonishing. Statistics from 2010 show that 38,329 people in the US died from prescription drugs that year, up from 16,849 observed in 1999. In 2013, that number was 22,767, revealing statistical variation rather than a downward spiral in death rates.

The FDA’s activity is seen by some as equivalent to dropping an atom bomb on each USA city every year due to its blatant endorsement of pharmaceutical drugs and food additives. At the same time, the FDA has banned many safe and effective natural remedies.

Little has been done to harness drug industry corruption as it has reached outrageous proportions in the last six years. In fact, Commissioner Hamburg’s FDA proposed the elimination of one of the few pseudo-effective measures that restrict the agency from simply rubber stamping all drug approvals – by pushing for the elimination of conflict of interest laws and a green light to fill advisory positions with paid drug company shills.

In 2013, Hamburg led the surge to fast-track more types of pharmaceutical drugs. Fast tracking is nothing more than a way to get around safeguards already in place and to start making more money faster regardless of the consequences for those who take those drugs. Reports noted that the FDA planned to allow certain obesity drugs, antibiotics, and others to be foisted onto the masses without undergoing appropriate regulatory review.

Read full report via Natural Society.

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