An open letter requesting an expansion of the FDA charter to cover the long-term effects of foods and drugs.
Originally published 2010
Again, thank you for all that you are doing. I know you have a long list of concerns. I would like to add one more that is of critical importance to the health of the American people.
I recently found out that FDA is specifically chartered to deal only with problems of an acute nature. Even when they know the science that says an ingredient produces long term harm, they are powerless to do anything.
Giant mega corporations obviously don’t give a damn. They’ll sell anything that makes a profit, no matter who it hurts — children, mothers — they don’t care.
That leaves government. But with most representatives elected with corporate money, we’re getting precious little help there. The corporations must create a disaster like the one on wall street or the gulf of mexico before government steps in to do what it should have been doing all along.
But now that health care legislation has been passed, it should eventually become clear that the American taxpayer is picking up the bill for long term health problems that the food industry creates. We should either tax them enough to pay for it, or legislate against the harmful ingredients they include in their products, or both.
In any case, we should expand the FDA charter and give it the power to safeguard the long term health of the American people, as well as the power to act in cases of acute toxicity.
Again, thank you.
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