Most Americans are unhappy with FDA

A telephone survey of 1,026 American adults revealed that they felt the FDA to be alarmingly out of touch with the concerns of the American people.

According to an April 2007 survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, most U.S. citizens are extremely dissatisfied with the Food and Drug Administration. A telephone survey of 1,026 American adults revealed that they felt the FDA to be alarmingly out of touch with the concerns of the American people. Some of the most interesting results include:

• Four out of five Americans think big pharmaceutical companies have too much control over the FDA.
• 96 percent believe the government should have the power to require warning labels on drugs with known safety problems. According to Consumer Reports, “Right now, the FDA must negotiate safety warning labels with a drug maker.”
• 84 percent believe that advertisements for prescription drugs with safety concerns should be outlawed.
• 84 percent agree that drug companies have “too much influence over the government officials who regulate them.” More than two-thirds of those surveyed are concerned that drug companies actually pay the FDA to review and approve their drugs.
• 92 percent oppose the FDA’s practice of allowing drug companies to submit only positive clinical trials of new drugs.
• 93 percent are troubled that the FDA has no power to do follow-up safety studies of drugs after they enter the market.
• 60 percent agree that doctors and scientists with a financial conflict of interest should not be allowed to serve on FDA advisory boards. Currently, doctors who earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in “consulting fees” from drug companies are allowed to vote on the recommendations for FDA approval of their drugs.
• 75 percent agree that allowing drug advertising has resulted in the over-prescribing of pharmaceuticals.
• More than half of those surveyed said they are currently taking prescription drugs, indicating that more than half of American adults may now be on drugs. Forty percent said they have experienced a negative reaction from prescription medications.

Resource: www.organicconsumers.org

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 26, Number 3, June/July 2007.