Hazardous to Our Health?: FDA Regulation of Health Care Products

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most powerful of federal regulatory agencies, if not the most powerful, regulating about 25 per cent of all consumer goods in the United States. It routinely makes decisions that determine the well-being of millions of people in the United States and around the world concerning foods, drugs, medical devices, and dietary supplements. Although the FDA was created to protect the public, could its actual operations have the opposite effect, causing enormous harm to public health? Assembling the work of three outstanding scholars, Hazardous to Our Health? provides a lucid and comprehensive examination of the FDA: How has the FDA acquired its vast powers? What have been the effects of the FDA? Why has the FDA failed to achieve its goals? Who actually benefits and loses from the FDA? How has the FDA defended itself against criticism? What real alternatives exist to the FDA? and much more. Hazardous to Our Health? goes beyond mere assumptions, conjectures, and political predilections to examine the facts and findings of independent authorities. Providing far more than just an account of the past and a warning for the future, this powerful book identifies the reforms necessary to safeguard American health care.