Word: fda
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...page study on analgesics just released by the FDA, a six-member advisory panel confirms that both aspirin and acetaminophen relieve minor aches and reduce fever, but it also issues a sharp warning against extravagant claims. "Adjective-itis," FDA Commissioner Donald Kennedy calls it, and urges new caveats to protect unwary consumers from potential dangers that could accompany overzealous use of analgesics. Among other things, the panel suggests...
...developer and chief promoter of Laetrile, Ernst Krebs Jr., fared no better than the rest of the Laetrile crew at the session. The only applause from the gallery came when Senator Kennedy wryly corrected Krebs, who had referred to the FDA commissioner as "Mr. Kennedy." Said the Senator (no kin): "He's Dr. Kennedy. You're Mr. Krebs." That was a pointed reminder to all the world that Krebs, who likes to call himself "doctor," has only an honorary Ph.D...
...throw in the sponge on Laetrile? The FDA could run a few tests on the alleged wonder drug to assure itself of its basic innocuousness, slap a Surgeon General-type warning on it ("The Government has determined that Laetrile, alias vitamin B17, can do nothing for your health"), and let it loose in the marketplace, along with such other pharmaceutical miracles as cold tablets, skin creams and vaginal deodorants. Under the Government's nodding supervision, the purity of the product might then be assured, the flourishing black market in Laetrile-which has netted some of its pushers millions...
...case of cancer, quack remedies involve more than bustled ladies sipping alcohol-laced Lydia Pinkham's compound or husky baldpates rubbing themselves with hair-growth oil. They are a cruel hoax that distracts cancer patients from possibly effective therapy. Even if it were accompanied by a caveat, an FDA stamp of approval for Laetrile would draw still more cancer patients away from conventional treatment-with disastrous consequences. Says Dr. Vincent DeVita, director of cancer treatment at the National Cancer Institute (NCI): "Hardly a day goes by now that I don't hear of a case of a patient...
Possibly, as Ingelfinger suggests, a public trial supervised by a collaboration of doctors and laymen might do more to bury Laetrile than all the official debunking. It would perhaps help repair the badly strained bond between medicine and the American people. Yet a too easy acquiescence by the FDA could, like any strong medication, produce unwanted and even dangerous side effects. By letting individuals use Laetrile, regardless of its value, the Government would be abrogating its traditional responsibilities to protect the national wellbeing. It could also fan the already widespread public suspicion of contemporary medicine and indeed of scientific expertise...