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Unjust FDA

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Unjust FDA
Steven Denlinger Unjust FDA
Your standing in line at your local drug store, head killing you, your face feels like it’s ready to explode, and you cannot breathe if your life depended on it. In short your allergies are making your life unbearable, and you are completely out of Sudafed. When you finally arrive at the pharmacist and ask for a box, you are asked for your driver’s license and then promptly turned away. Recent laws have you waiting one more week before purchasing anything that contains pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. Disgruntled and in pain, you walk away and as you leave the store you overhear the cashier tell a customer “instead of buying a pack a day, why don’t you just buy a carton?” Right about now the FDA’s “…goal of a healthier, safer nation…” ("Overview Of The FDA Mission", 2007) does not feel so accurate. The FDA’s regulations are unjust, because they place corporate profits above consumers’ safety, ban proven natural beneficial health medications, and allow the public’s lifestyle demands to alter their mission.
Placing Corporate Profits Above Consumers’ Safety
If the FDA’s mission is “protecting the public health by assuring that foods are safe, wholesome, sanitary and properly labeled; human and veterinary drugs, and vaccines and other biological products and medical devices intended for human use are safe and effective” ("Overview Of The FDA Mission", 2007). then “some of the ninety-two aspartame side effects listed by the FDA include: confusion, memory loss, paresthesias, convulsions, absences, blindness, and psychologic-phychiatric reactions like sever anxiety attacks and severe depression” ("Aspartame Symptoms Submitted To The FDA", 2006) wouldn’t be a concern for you when you reach for your favorite can of diet soda. Imagine these nice side effects while you reach for your blue packet of equal that you put in your coffee every morning. When aspartame was put in front of the FDA for approval it was denied eight times. In



References: Overview of FDA Mission. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Testimony/ucm154019.htm Gold, M. (2003). Docket # 02P-0317 Recall Aspartame as a Neurotoxic Drug: File. Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Jan03/012203/02P-0317_emc- 00199.txt Murray, R. (2004). How Aspartame Became Legal - Timeline. Retrieved from http://www.rense.com/general33/legal.htm Aspartame Symptoms Submitted to the FDA. (2006). Retrieved from American Diabetes Association, and Monsanto Company and Does 1-50 inclusive. Court Case # C 04 3872 . (2004). Retrieved from http://www.dldewey.com/columns/ricof2.htm Food & Drug Administration on ephedra. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.ephedra.com/fda.htm Ephedra. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.ephedra.com/ Adverse Events with Ephedra and Other Botanical Dietary Supplements. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/Food/DietarySupplements/Alerts/ucm111208.htm FDA Safety Update: Asthma Medications. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048223.htm Possible Side Effects (2012). Retrieved from Aspirin for Reducing Your Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke: Know the Facts. (2012). Retrieved from Aspirin- PubMed Health. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0000802/ National Reye 's Syndrome Foundation . (2011). Retrieved from http:// http://www.reyessyndrome.org/ Salicylate poisoning: An evidence-based consensus guideline for. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.aapcc.org/FinalizedPMGdlns/salicylate%20guideline%20for%20AAPCC%202 006-5-23.pdf Tobacco Use Targeting the National Leading Killer. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/osh.htm FDA Cigarette Warning Labels Include Tracheotomy Hole and Rotting Teeth . (2011). Retrieved Regulations Restricting the Sale and Distribution of Cigarettes and Smokeless Tobacco. (2011). Retrieved from

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