More corruption exposed at the FDA
Remember Vioxx? There’s a lot more where that came from. Remember According to the NYT, more corruption has been uncovered at the FDA. According to the unanimous conclusion of FDA’s scientists, a medical device called the Menaflex was unsafe.
But after receiving what an F.D.A. report described as “extreme,” “unusual” and persistent pressure from four Democrats from New Jersey — Senators Robert Menendez and Frank R. Lautenberg and Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. and Steven R. Rothman — agency managers overruled the scientists and approved the device for sale in December.
According to the story, the members of Congress each received significant campaign contributions from the manufacturer. The FDA is now considering rescinding approval for the device.
All of this raises an interesting question: Who would be more qualified to determine whether a medical device should go to market, A) a medically trained scientist or B) members of Congress who receive campaign contributions from the manufacturer of the device? Easy call, right? Anyone with a high school education should know that politicians shouldn’t override scientists on matters of science.
If this were a just world, one or more people would be going to prison for this corruption which has endangered (and potentially, injured) many of those people purchasing the defective device.
- No option for those killed or injured by medical devices
- Big Media’s monopolistic cravings lead to more corruption at the FCC
- What’s a good way to get a superdelegate’s support?
- Frank Rich: Rod Blagojevich is a small fry in our metastacizing culture of corruption
- The idea of a benevolent “Free Market” is exposed as a dangerous fraud
