Hi! Thanks for the question.
For starters let us enumerate the things the FDA does everyday for
ordinary citizens.
Drugs:
- ?Accelerated approval: The FDA has speeded up approval for major
drugs whose effects on so-called "surrogate endpoints"-such as the
size or number of cancer tumors-indicate the likelihood of extended
survival or other long-term health benefits. Products that receive
accelerated approval must subsequently undergo additional trials to
provide clinical proof of the benefits suggested by the surrogate
endpoints.?
- ?Priority drugs: Medications that promise major advances in health
care receive priority treatment to accelerate their testing and
availability to patients. The FDA enhances the development process of
these products by helping the sponsors design efficient clinical
trials, and it speeds up the review of the resulting evidence by using
additional resources.?
?Confronting Cancer: FDA's Long Fight Against America's Bane?
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/16cancer.html
Ensure Safety of Vaccines
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/19vaccine.html
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Food:
- ?launched new programs to improve the safety of seafood, fresh
fruits and vegetables, sprouts, juice and eggs;?
- ?focused its field inspection program on products at "high risk" for
microbiological contamination; developed new methods of monitoring the
mushrooming food imports; and?
- ?made its research, risk assessment and education activities
responsive to today's food safety needs.?
-------------------
Biological Products:
?Fighting Foodborne Illness: How FDA Helps Keep the Food Supply Safe?
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/21foodsaf.html
Ensure Safety of Medical Devices
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/20mammo.html
Ensure Safety of Donated Blood
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/15blood.html
-------------------------
Ensure Public Safety
?The Challenge to Improve Patient Safety: FDA Logs Over 350,000
Reports of Adverse Events Annually?
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/9meder.html
?FDA?s Global Shield for American Consumers?
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/factsheets/justthefacts/12inter.html
--------------------------
Our next links are other articles showing the activities and
responsibilities of the FDA.
?Welcome to A Tour of FDA? (A multimedia presentation about the FDA)
http://www.eduneering.com/fda/courses/fdatour/welcome.html
?An Overview of the FDA? (Slide Presentation)
http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/fda101/sld001.html
?What FDA Regulates?
http://www.fda.gov/comments/regs.html
?What FDA Does Not Regulate?
http://www.fda.gov/comments/noregs.html
-------------------------
Your follow-up question was the one that really grabbed my attention.
What would it be like if there were no laws governing the quality of
our food and drugs?
One way to answer this question is to take a look at a time when the
FDA hasn?t existed yet. The FDA website is again a very good resource
for this. It seems that the main health problems will be death from
bacteria or unsanitary medical equipment, monopoly of basic food and
drug products, and the proliferation of ineffective and harmful drugs.
The following cases below shows the problems that brought about the
need to regulate food and drugs.
1848 ? ?Federal concern for drugs started with the establishment of
U.S. customs laboratories to administer the Import Drugs Act of 1848.
The United States had become the world's dumping ground for
counterfeit, contaminated, diluted, and decomposed drug materials -- a
dangerous situation. American troops in Mexico had suffered from
spurious medication for malaria.?
1862 - ??when Charles M. Wetherill, first chemist of the new
Department of Agriculture, set up a laboratory and began at once to
analyze samples of food, soils, fertilizers, and other agricultural
substances. The first reported project -- a chemical study of grape
juice for winemaking -- dealt with, among other topics, the question
whether adding sugar to increase the alcohol content would constitute
"adulteration." It was concluded that the practice was legitimate.?
?Use of chemical preservatives and toxic colors was virtually
uncontrolled? Ice was still the principal means of refrigeration. The
great pioneers of bacteriology were just starting their string of
victories over infectious diseases. Milk was still unpasteurized. Cows
were not tested for tuberculosis.?
?The Story Of The Laws Behind The Labels?
http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/history1.html
1886 ? ?The first prolonged and impassioned controversy in the
Congress involving a pure food issue took place in 1886, pitting the
reigning champion, butter, against a challenger, oleomargarine. Butter
won, and oleomargarine was taxed and placed under other restraints
that persisted on the Federal level until 1950. The debate in 1886
between the defenders of a natural food and those of its alleged
artificial substitute centered not only on matters of vested interest,
but also pondered concerns about the public health, issues of
governmental authority, and the myths in which were enshrined the
meaning of the American experience. Such themes re-echoed in
Congressional chambers as Senate and House later debated broader bills
to control food and drugs in interstate commerce. The first broad bill
had been introduced in 1879, although a decade passed before Congress
displayed serious interest.?
?The Long Struggle For The 1906 Law?
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/history2.html
An interesting article about an experimental group used by the
government before the advent of the FDA shows how the public has
become very suspicious of the food they eat and the medicines they
take.
?Chief chemist Harvey W. Wiley, M.D., considered by many to be the
founding father of the FDA, spearheaded the effort to separate
scientific facts on food safety from the recurrent food safety scares
that had fast become the subject of growing public mistrust,
inflammatory publications, and Congressional hearings. Wiley's
earliest concerns stemmed from the widespread use of borax as a food
preservative. And, in fact, fraud was so widespread that even products
labeled ?pure? were often counterfeits, such as purported ?pure
Vermont maple syrup? that was little more than colored and flavored
Iowa corn syrup.?
?At the same time, however, manufacturers argued that certain
preservatives, such as sulfur, were indispensable in processing
products such as wines and raisins. Nevertheless, the public was
becoming increasingly concerned about all kinds of toxic substances
reportedly found in foods.?
?The 'Poison Squad' and the Advent of Food and Drug Regulation?
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2002/602_squad.html
Search strategy used:
FDA history
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
Thanks for visiting us.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga
Google Answers Researcher |
