fda. protecting the public or big buissness?

im not sure if this belongs here or politics or somewere else so what do you think are they being controled by big biz? with a push to limit vitamins herbs supplements, while allowing harmful food addatives? are they over steping their bounds to put more profit in the hands of the big pharmacuticel comps so they can gain patents on herbs and vitamins?

 

I am not familiar with the FDA's jurisdiction over food & supplements, but I am very familiar with FDA and drugs. I think that the FDA does a good job of protecting the public from harmful drugs. They have very strict guidelines that drug companies must adhere to. I am very disapointed, however, in decisions the FDA has made in recent years, specifically with PPA (phenylpropanolamine), Vioxx, and Bextra. None of these drugs should have been pulled from the market. If the drugs were prescribed approptiately, the risk to any individual would be very low. While a risk still existed, it does with any medicatiion. In these instances, I think it would have been more appropriate for the FDA to issue warnings, and stricter prescribing/dispensing guidelines, rather than pull the drug altogether. I think these drug withdrawals were politically motivated, because American's now seem to expect drugs to be without risk, and the FDA is trying to look "tough".