FDA argues federal preemption

Although this is slightly old news, I just recently saw this piece in the Washington Post about the FDA pushing an anti-consumer, pro industry reccomendation called "federal preemption". This means, in essence, that individuals who may have been injured by drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration should not be allowed to sue drug companies in state courts.

According to an FDA spokesman: "We think that if your company complies with the FDA processes, if you bring forward the benefits and risks of your drug, and let your information be judged through a process with highly trained scientists, you should not be second-guessed by state courts that don't have the same scientific knowledge,"

However, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America take a justifyably critical view of thie FDA's reccomendation:

Elminating the rights of individuals to hold negligent drug companies accountable puts patients in even more danger than they already are in from drug company executives that put profits before safety," said Ken Suggs, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

"The fact that the drug industry can get the FDA to rewrite the rules so that CEOs can escape accountability for putting dangerous and deadly drugs on the market is the scariest example yet of how much control these big corporations have over our political process," he said.

It is interesting to see a so-called regulatory agency like the FDA consistently side with the pharmaceutical industry as opposed to protecting American citizens from possible injury or death. One might ask why Pharma even needs the largest lobbying force on Capitol Hill when they already have the agency supposedly regulating already it in their back pocket.