Word: fda
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
After small-scale tests showed that AZT, or azidothymide, appeared to increase the life expectancies of AIDS victims, including patients treated at three Harvard-affiliated hospitals, the FDA agreed to classify AZT as an "investigational new drug," making it available to thousands of patients nationwide...
...early this year reported in the British journal Lancet that the subjects had shown remarkable improvement. There was, however, at least one troublesome side effect: a reduction in their blood-cell counts. It was as a result of this early work that Burroughs Wellcome requested and was given FDA approval for the larger study that began in February...
...with objections. It can be expensive, adding as much as 5 cents a lb. to the price of some fresh produce. Since it can be used only on harvested crops, pesticides will still be needed in the fields. Moreover, say opponents, the low level of radioactivity set by the FDA for produce (100 kilorads) is not strong enough to slow the ripening of most fruits and vegetables. Plant Biologist Noel Sommer of the University of California at Davis has concluded that 200 kilorads is needed to retard the growth of gray mold on picked strawberries, and at that level...
...Those who favor the process respond that the quantities of toxic chemicals are minute, that they occur naturally (like benzene in eggs), and that some cooking methods -- frying, for example -- also generate small amounts of carcinogens. As for the URPs, they are not new creations at all, says the FDA, but simply existing chemicals that have not been detected before in the human diet. "There's no food that is completely known," points out FDA Biochemist Clyde Takeguchi. "You can't identify everything that's in an apple. The basis for establishing safety is not absolute safety. It's reasonable...
...controversy seems headed for a congressional showdown. California Democrat Douglas Bosco is pushing a House bill, with 39 co-sponsors, to void the FDA's approval of irradiation for pork, fruits and vegetables. The industry's supporters, however, are convinced that they will prevail. Says Physicist Welt: "It took 50 years for canned food to be accepted by your grandmother. It took frozen food 20 years to be accepted by your mother. It will take the housewives of today five years to accept irradiated food...