I have a question. Is anyone in our government, specifically our FDA, really interested in problem solving?

Question

or are our big business deep pockets, lobbyist's etc. having to much influenence in the products that they approve? Why in the world would the United States government agency designed to product our citizens from harmful drugs and food products allow facts like the following not to be screamed from every roof-top in this country? Flavorings that are used not only tobacco products but a huge number of food productsused daily by millions of consumers, become carcinogenic when heat/fire is added to the mix. Why aren't there warning labels on food products containing flavorings/colorings that have to be heated to be eaten? Why wouldn't this agency want to warn every citizen about the dangers of food products containing flavorings? What is up with that? Has anyone besides myself noticed how our childre are getting cancer and cancer related diseases much more frequently than just a few years ago? We are ingesting Carcinogenics and our FDA has known that. Why don't most of us?

Answer 1

I think the # 1 interest of people at the bottom of any organization is to keep their jobs, to keep their income, to maybe improve that situation over time, so the pressure is on to appear to be doing whatever the bosses want, to appear to be doing that productively.

The mission of the government agency to serve the people, or the mission of a company to make money, is distant secondary to that.

The only way this is going to change is to give decent support to whistle blowers, so that when people witness something that should be reported, they know that they will be able to have a decent income after they do so.  Otherwise the only people who do so are the independently wealthy or super patriots.

Answer 2

Bush had their budget cut so severely to ensure that they would not have the manpower to properly do their jobs.  Just another present from Bush and Cheney to big business.

Answer 3

First of all - rerally good joke there ( beurocrats want to solve problems - haha)

Second -  We ingest carcinogens all the time from the particulate matter in diesel fuel exhaust.  We get it from our Cooked meats, in our water- it's all over the place.

What's a little more?

Answer 4

I'd like to know the substance, the carcinogen it becomes and the foods that it is found in.

Trust me FDA is no friend of big business.  As a former shareholder in Merck, a lot of their prospectusus, annual reports, etc. showed very profitable and helpful drugs that were held up in the FDA pipeline.  Some never made it to market or had to go back and make some perfunctory beaureaucratic changes befor eit could hit the shelf.

I'm glad they exist, but they are not in bed with Merck.  That's for sure.