How many times have you read about the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)? Are you sure as to what “they” can and can’t do?
Most recently, in the news, some drugs were totally recalled because there were small particles of glass contained in them. (CNN.com, Cholesterol drug recalled over glass concerns, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/25/health/statin-recall/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1&imw=Y) Lifesavers, huh? These drugs will not be placed back on the market until they are able to meet U.S. standards.
The FDA makes shopping feel wonderful. You just browse and buy because you know deep down that if it is on the shelf, then it is OK. Also, if it isn’t OK then you will surely find somebody liable. In comes the FDA. (http://www.fda.gov/)
The FDA is a member of the executive branch of the government. The FDA is in place in order to protect and promote public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs/medications, vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices, and veterinary products; in turn enforcing, Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act and associated regulations. Many of these laws are not directly related to food or drugs. These include sanitation requirements on interstate travel and control of disease on products. This could include certain household pets to sperm donation for assisted reproduction.
The FDA is the feds. You know, black Lincolns, and blacked out Surburbans, etc. The FDA also works globally. “Why?”, you may ask. Sabias que, food and drug must assure that U.S. public health protection is maintained while still constructing more on an international scale.
Their annual budget is about 5 billion dollars. The FDA serves underneath the Department of Health And Human Services.
“Although it was not known by its present name until 1930, FDA’s modern regulatory functions began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act, a law a quarter-century in the making that prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated and misbranded food and drugs. Harvey Washington Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture, had been the driving force behind this law and headed its enforcement in the early years, providing basic elements of protection that consumers had never known before that time.” (http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/default.htm)
The FDA helps with:
FOOD:
a. Keeping holiday leftovers edible.
b. Information on contaminated food in weather emergencies.
c. Maintaining our knowledge of foodborne illnesses.
d. Adhereing to food safety with new programs like FSMA.
VACCINES, BLOOD, AND BIOLOGICS
a. Provides information on the shelf life of biologics.
b. Updating influenza vaccines for this season.
c. Core blood banking.
d. Progress with vaccine testing.
ANIMAL and VETERINARY
a. Food Safety and Modernization Act regulations.
b. Taking care of pets in environmental emergencies.
c. Aquaculture drug basics.
d. Drug compliance for pet medicines.
COSMETICS
a. Eye cosmetic safety.
b. Nail care products.
c. VCRP.
RADIATION-EMITTING PRODUCTS
a. Mammography Quality Standards Act.
b. Medical imaging safety.
c. Providing information for Benefit-risk Determinations.
d. Radiological Health Programs.
TOBACCO PRODUCTS
a. Betobaccofree.gov launch.
b. Spanish language community.
c. Great American Smokeout.
You have read about the FDA more times than you can think of. You didn’t know you were reading about them when you were reading about them, and they knew you were reading about them. Read about them.
You might think, “It is interesting.” This thought crosses your mind as you crunch open a 5-hour-energy.
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