The FDA and Unsafe Medication

When a medication prescription is written, the assumption is that the drug will be something that helps. It is assumed that there are safeguards to protect the public from unsafe medication. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is mandated to protect the public from unsafe consumables, including medication.

It will be a shock to many people that when a medication is improperly placed in the market place, it may take almost a year to have that drug regulated:

“…When federal regulators catch a drug company peddling prescription drugs for an unapproved use, it takes them an average of seven months to issue a warning, according to a draft report by congressional investigators. It typically takes four more months for the company to fix the problem. During that time, a lot prescriptions can be written.”

link: GAO says agency moves too slowly

The number of people who could be exposed to an improper medication could number in the millions. This is another example of the FDA being improperly funded or staffed to insure that the public is provided with basic security regulation. This was shown in the pet food fiasco and the tomatoes / salmonella warning, as just two recent examples.

It is frightening that many people could be taking improper medication for almost a year - and the FDA knows about the problem.

Catherine Forsythe