Word: fda
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...decision by the House of Representatives last Monday to impose an 18-month delay on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) ban on saccharin stemmed largely from constituent pressure, Dr. J. Winston, acting director of the Office of Health Policy Information, said yesterday...
...sharp conflict with the view of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Feedback, a newsletter published by the Harvard University Food Services, encourages students to use the artificial sweetener, saccharin. In a statement we believe to be unwarranted, the September issue of Feedback states that "saccharine, nitrites, and hundreds of other food additives are perfectly safe at the levels currently used in our foods." The publication and distribution of this document under the imprimatur of the University's Food Services raises serious questions. We shall comment here only on certain scientific and policy questions...
...course, public policy decisions are often made on the basis of information which is suggestive rather than conclusive. The FDA's proposed ban on saccharin is a case in point. The FDA acted in response to a Canadian study which demonstrated that male rats exposed to saccharin in utero and throughout their lives exhibited a 24 per cent increase in bladder tumors in comparison to controls. A smaller increase was observed in male rats exposed only following birth...
Moreover, since saccharin is contained not only in diet drinks but also in large numbers of foods and toothpastes, it is difficult for the individual to avoid ingestion of this additive without governmental intervention. The FDA's action on saccharin is therefore well advised as prudent preventive medicine. Its further decision to permit the sweetener to be sold as a nonprescription drug recognizes the fact that there may well be people for whom the benefits of taking the sweetener exceed its possible risks...
...panel's recommendations must still run the usual bureaucratic gauntlet, including a public airing, and could be modified after drug companies weigh in with their objections. But the FDA seems determined to deal with the national headache of analgesic misuse. As the FDA's Kennedy put it: "Consumers must be assured that the drugs they buy are rationally formulated with safe and effective ingredients and labeled and advertised with information that is complete, honest and understandable...