Word: fda
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...October a 67-year-old Jehovah's Witness had undergone surgery without blood transfusion. Discharged from the hospital, he soon developed severe anemia and was readmitted. A transfusion was urgently needed, so his doctors decided on a novel approach. They asked the FDA for permission to try an experimental blood substitute called Fluosol...
...Food and Drug Administration isn't much better. A Congressional panel remarks that the FDA's formal rulemaking procedures "are complex, cumbersome, and time-consuming." As a result, the FDA usually relies on informal "action levels" if a chemical is present at levels above a certain level, the contaminated food can be seized. The action levels, however, can be set with little or no public input and little or no supporting scientific evidence. The result: possible dangerous levels of chemicals may be passing through the FDA's regulatory machinery with the FDA's blessing...
Even when a chemical does exceed one of the few limits set by the agency, Congress has found that the FDA "investigates few of the residue violations...and rarely prosecutes violators." Both the FDA and the USDA, the Congressional study adds, "almost never result in meat or poultry recalls." In fact, the highly-touted USDA "stamp of approval" has frequently been given to meat known to be illegally contaminated--but sold to consumers anyway...
Even if Congress is stirred into action, though, the Office of Technology Assessment notes that increased regulation by the FDA, USDA, and EPA "are not likely to prevent the deliberate or accidental misuse or disposal of the thousands of toxic substances manufactured in the U.S." The answer, then, is to create incentives within industry, and so to encourage industry to regulate itself. This answer has been proposed in a bill coming up in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-Cal.), H.R. 4973 imposes a minimum of two years in jail and a fine...
...FDA has also been stymied in banning another substance given to animals to boost growth: the hormone DES (diethylstilbesterol), which is known to cause cancer in humans...