Super Eco

The Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It is responsible for protecting public health by regulating and supervising the safety of foods, drugs, cosmetics, vaccines, dietary supplements, medical devices, blood products, biological medical products, veterinary products, and radiation-emitting devices.The FDA's mission also states that "the FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health."

Federal laws administered through the FDA are codified into the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and significant legislation is listed here.

Critics of the FDA charge it with either overregulating (taking too long to approve drugs; not approving potentially useful and life-saving drugs due to unpredicatibility; causing higher drug prices as a result of the burdensome approval process; censorship in labeling of dietary supplements) or underregulating (approving unsafe drugs, covering up exportation of unsafe products; approving unsafe food additives and processing technologies) or holding bias against certain segments of the population.

Interesting facts: Bottled water is regulated through the FDA, as are medical maggots.

Recalls and safety alerts are listed here. The procedure to comment on proposed regulation can be accessed here.

 

Notable Eco Activity

Specific criticisms of the FDA related to the green world include the approval of the routine use of antibiotics in otherwise healthy animals to promote their growth. In 2005, the FDA took steps to begin to reverse this practice by withdrawing approval for the use of the fluoroquinolone antibiotic enrofloxacin (trade name Baytril) in poultry, out of concern that this practice could promote bacterial resistance to important human antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin.

In addition, the FDA has approved for use certain coal tar derived food dyes (FDC Yellow 5 & 6) that are banned in European countries.

The FDA also approved rBGH for use in dairy cows in 1993, the same year all European countries banned its use.

And, the FDA has also been criticized for giving permission for cloned animals to be sold as food without any special labelling

Lawsuits

A number of lawsuits have been filed against the FDA over the years, mainly by consumer groups such as Food and Water Watch (demanding transparency on food inspection), and activists like CareToLive (demanding approval of cancer drugs).

In additiona, the FDA protects pharmaceutical companies from potential lawsuits filed by disgruntled individuals and patients.

• Food and Drug Administration Details

  • Year Founded

    1906

  • Founded By

    Unavailable

  • Green Products?

    No

  • Hazardous Products?

    No

  • Sector

    Unavailable

  • Industry

    Unavailable

  • Help Line

    1-800-216-7331

  • Help Address

    unknown

  • Fax Number

    Unavailable

  • Website

    http://www.fda.gov/default.htm

  • Key Execs

    Unavailable

  • Competitors

    Unavailable

  
  

• Food and Drug Administration Locations

  • Headquarters

    10903 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20903

  • Mail Address

    10903 New Hampshire Ave. Silver Spring, MD 20903

  • Operates In

    United States

  • Manufacturing

    Unavailable

  
  

• Food and Drug Administration Financial Information

  • Company Type

    Governmental agency

  • Yearly Revenue

    Unavailable

  • Traded On

    Unavailable

  • Symbols

    Unavailable