FDA

More Studies Needed to Ensure Public Safety, Science Group Says

January 9, 2008 -- The Food and Drug Administration is expected to declare as early as this week that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring pose no public health threat. The agency is likely to lift its "voluntary moratorium" on their sale.    » read more »

Jan. 10, 2008 -- Statement of Ronald M. Davis, MD, AMA President:

"The AMA is concerned that the federal government received failing grades for its tobacco control legislation and policies. It's a cruel irony that tobacco, the number one cause of preventable death, is one of the least regulated products. This report serves as a reminder that we need meaningful legislative reforms to give the FDA strong regulatory authority over tobacco products.    » read more »

American Lung Association Calls on Federal, State Leaders to Take Action
and Close the Door on America’s Tobacco Epidemic

New York, NY (January 10, 2008)—The American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2007 report, an annual report card on federal and state tobacco control legislation and policies, assigns only Ds and Fs to the federal government, but says 2008 presents an historic opportunity for Congress to make a dramatic impact on tobacco control across America by authorizing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products.    » read more »

Public Citizen Sues FDA in Federal Court to Force Agency to Act On Petition Seeking Stricter Fluoroquinolone Warnings

Jan. 3, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite long-standing evidence that fluoroquinolone antibiotics can cause tendon ruptures, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to increase its warnings to patients and physicians about the dangers of the medicines, Public Citizen told a federal court Thursday.    » read more »

Coalition Condemns Food and Drug Administration Plans for Cloned Foods as Irresponsible, Calls on FDA to Respect Will of Congress and Maintain Cloning Moratorium

December 18, 2007— This holiday season, people have more to fear than the dreaded fruitcake.    » read more »

Public Citizen Testifies About Dangers of Mevacor

Dec. 13, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Making the cholesterol medicine Mevacor available over the counter could lead to widespread and possibly dangerous, inappropriate use of the drug, a fear backed up by the maker’s own data, Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen, told federal regulators Thursday.    » read more »

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee

December 4, 2007 -- (As Prepared for Delivery)

The most basic duty of any government is to protect the safety of the people it serves. A recent report to the FDA Science Advisory Board raises troubling questions about this Administration’s ability to meet this basic responsibility, with regard to food safety and many other area where American families count on FDA to protect their health. And instead of improving matters, the White House is poised to make them worse by threatening to veto the very bill that funds FDA.    » read more »

December 3, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released the following statement in response to the report presented by the Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board.    » read more »

Would Strengthen Safety Net For Imported Food, Toys and Medicine

11/20/2007 -- Today in Shenandoah, IA, Hillary Clinton outlined her agenda to address the challenge of import safety for food, children’s products, and drugs and medical devices. She believes that it is simply unacceptable that in America in 2007, families worry about the safety of the food they put on their dinner tables or the medicines they buy, or that any parents fear for their child’s well-being every time they buy a toy.    » read more »

11/19/2007 -- WASHINGTON D.C. – Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wrote a letter to FDA Commissioner, Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach today, requesting a full investigation into lipstick products containing lead levels above the legal limit, as recently reported by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics.    » read more »

Nov. 14, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Allowing patients to obtain certain drugs on the basis of counseling by a pharmacist but without a doctor’s prescription is a bad idea, Public Citizen told the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today at a public hearing.    » read more »

FDA Authority over Tobacco Would Save Lives

Statement of Bernadette A. Toomey, President and CEO, American Lung Association    » read more »

Statement of Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of the Health Research Group at Public Citizen

Oct. 4, 2007 -- The idea of behind-the-counter-drugs is not new. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has previously considered creating a third class of drugs - an intermediate step between prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs - but has not supported the idea, citing the need for more research. That need still exists today.    » read more »

02 October 2007 -- Washington -- U.S. food import safety officials and the food industry are proposing to ramp up federal regulation of imported food and ingredients to address the risk that unsafe products could enter the United States.

U.S. agencies charged with overseeing food import safety are expected to forward to President Bush in November recommended actions that food producers, distributors, importers and regulators should take to strengthen food safety.    » read more »

Organic Pastures Brand Linked to Illness

September 26, 2007 -- The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) is urging consumers to follow a recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning statement not to consume unpasteurized cream labeled as “Organic Pastures Grade A Raw Cream.”    » read more »