The FDA under Bush and cronies

It appears that the federal government, which is supposed to work FOR the American people, basically shut down under George W. Bush and his cronies. Well, the Bush administration did work to better the welfare of the corporations and the rich, but the rest of us were left out in the cold. It also appears that word was passed down on from high: let things slide; don't worry if you don't do your jobs, nobody's going to check; and we don't care!

The Food and Drug Administration is a case in point. Sarah Avery and Sabina Vollmer, writing for The News & Observer, tell this story out of Raleigh, North Carolina:

"Months before an Angier company shipped deadly bacteria-tainted drugs, the federal Food and Drug Administration received numerous complaints about sediment and debris in the medicine.

"The FDA received reports about AM2PAT as early as 2005, but not until December 2007 did the agency pull any of the drugs off the market.

"AM2PAT, which is now the subject of a criminal investigation, sold tainted syringes of heparin and saline that have been linked to five deaths. Hundreds more people were sickened, often after receiving the medicines during chemotherapy, kidney dialysis and other intravenous procedures."

So, who cares if a few people died and hundreds more got sick? Not the FDA!

Here are some highlights of this mess:

Conditions at the plant were a mess..."in flagrant violation of proper manufacturing processes."

Note that "...the company's 'chief microbiologist' was a teenager who dropped out of high school."

"A key piece of laboratory equipment designed to catch evidence of contamination was broken."

The so-called clean room, "where air is carefully controlled to reduce the spread of germs, was ventilated with an ordinary room fan."


The FDA is not responding to questions.

Part of the problem is the FDA is underfunded and understaffed. That is the fault of the Bush administration! Plants like this are supposed to be inspected every two years but instead have received site inspections every five years!

Now we've got more problems what with medications that cause heart attacks and toys from China full of lead and not to forget that we can't eat peanut butter products at the moment without risking suffering and perhaps death.

Forest Horne, a medical malpractice lawyer in Raleigh, says The FDA is clearly asleep at the switch."


And not without reason. The FDA has too much to do and has not enough people or money to do it.

But, hey, we can spend $10 billion a month in Iraq. No problemo. Saving the Iraqis from what? Us!


The complete article is here.

Your government at work (BUT NOT FOR YOU!)

Ronald Reagan, once when he was awake, said something snide about government not being the solution to our problems, but rather that government was the problem.

Maybe he was right. Or maybe he was speaking of a government controlled by the Republican Party. That must be it. Government run by Republicans is always a problem. Especially of late. Hell, there isn't much government left. Bush and company have pretty well decimated it!

What follows, then, isn't surprising as the people responsible are Republicans working for the criminal Bush/Cheney regime.

1) According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it is just fine that 20 million Americans are drinking water that has been contaminated with a rocket fuel ingredient. No problemo.

2) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has "ignored more than 100 scientific studies to declare the chemical bisphenol-A safe enough for babies, in whose plastic bottles and sippy cups it often appears." Hey, the Bushites always say science is for wusses. Ya gotta have FAITH!

3) The FDA again. Although "Women's exposure to phthalates, another common additive to plastics, was linked in Environmental Research to GENITAL DEFORMITIES IN THEIR BABY BOYS ... The FDA doesn't consider phthalates a safety risk. FAITH, baby!

4) More FDA. No need to label genetically engineered meat and other animal products, either, 'cause they pose no risk. More FAITH, baby!

5) The FDA says same is true of canned tuna, in spite of the fact that "CANNED TUNA IS HIGHLY CONTAMINATED WITH MERCURY. One out of five U.S. women of childbearing age has excessive amounts of the toxic element in her bloodstream." Show us your FAITH, ladies!


Methinks FAITH is gonna get you killed nowadays.


[Thanks to Sierra magazine, January/February 2009, p. 19]