MetaFilter posts tagged with FDA

Got Real (?) Milk?

Medieval Maven — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:13:45 -0800

Raw Milk is milk that has not been pasteurized or homogenized. Raw milk is legal in England, but not in Scotland. Similarly, it's legal in South Carolina and illegal in Georgia. Enter MeFi's Own^® ewagoner of Athens Locally Grown. Athens Locally Grown connects consumers with farmers throughout Georgia and South Carolina, including raw milk dairies. The State of Georgia caught wind of this relationship and sent representatives from their Department of Agriculture. This is what happens when the state impinges on your neighbors' rights to drink what they want. Hear Eric talk about the seizure on the radio (scroll down to 10/22/2009), check out Ron Paul's proposed regulation, and read the FDA rule in question. Previously: Raw Milk is Secret in Brooklyn

A new scare?

borborygmi — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:26:11 -0800

You may know it as acetaminophen, paracetamol, APAP, or ... Tylenol. Today an FDA advisory panel recommended banning prescription drugs that contain acetaminophen, such as vicodin and percocet. The panel of experts also voted to give acetaminophen a black box warning, and reduce the maximum dosage of over-the-counter formulations. Acetaminophen is a popular painkiller by itself and, in combination with opiates, is the most commonly prescribed medication in the US. Acetaminophen has known for over a hundred years, though its use in the US began in 1955. The brand has survived scares and maintained its popularity for decades, thanks to some innov ative mark eting (last link is a pdf) and effective analgesia in many clinical settings. Acetaminophen is generally better tolerated than ibuprofen and other painkillers, but it's not without adverse effects -- acetaminophen is now the leading cause of liver failure in the US. The FDA panel hopes these measures will reduce overdoses leading to fulminant liver failure, but similar restrictions in the UK have had mixed results.

Henry Waxman and his band of Merry Mad Men

formless — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 09:00:41 -0800

The House passed H.R. 1256, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act a few days ago. The bill would put regulation of tobacco under the jurisdiction of the F.D.A. Some are critical of this bill, pointing out that Philip Morris is behind it. But the bill does contain many positive elements. Manufacturers would be required to disclose product ingredients to the F.D.A. and marketing to children would be further restricted. One aspect that hasn't been discussed much online is the impact this would have on the burgeoning hookah market. The hookah, or nargile, has a long history and culture associated with it. Recently, hookah bars have been popping up in the U.S., especially around college towns. The act specfically targets any flavored tobacco, including cloves, which would outlaw most Hookah tobacco or shisha. This could be seen both as an attempt to discourage smoking among young adults who may not see the health risks in hookah smoking and a move by big tobacco to eliminate new competition. There is one interesting exception from this flavor ban, menthol cigarettes.

Mother's Little Helper was only in trouble if it was mislabeled

Asparagirl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:26:18 -0800

The US Food and Drug Administration started regulating the labeling of food, beverages, and medicines after the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act, and added food coloring and cosmetics with the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They have just released a new website, the FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1906-1963, containing data from thousands of cases of mislabeled or misadvertised products and drugs, available in multiple forms (text, PDF, metadata XML, .TIF image, etc.), with searchable archives. Poking around in the data will yield information on cases ranging from misbranding methamphetamine tablets, to quack "Film-O-Sonic" devices, to bacteria-laden unproven abortifacients sold over the counter, to purported "4-way" cures for baldness, to hunks of radium sold for putting in your drinking water to "stimulate the sex organs" (judged against for stating an unproven use, not for actual danger of product). Organized by the FDA's history office, the new database is a fascinating resource for historians, public safety advocates, researchers, and librarians.

Economic policy in a squeeze bottle

expriest — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 06:03:06 -0800

"Libertarians Are Dumb, or Why We Eat Heinz Ketchup"

Is There Nothing Lobbyists Can't Do?

expriest — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:33:54 -0800

FDA says your company's medical device isn't safe to market? No problem. Just hire a lobbyist. Afraid of being sued? Don't worry. The Supreme Court says you are immune.

Don't Worry, Be Hungry.

barrett caulk — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:50:44 -0800

Foodies, gourmands, and gluttons! Courtesy of those muckrakers at the New York Times, consider this recent op-ed piece. For those still pissed about the Times cheerleading us into Iraq, skip it and just dig this handbook from your federal watchdogs to determine just how much rat shit may have been in those beanie-weenies you enjoyed cold from the can last night at 1:34a.m. Handy alphabetization makes finding your favorite processed foods easy as pie.

Don't Blame Canada! America, Fuck Yeah!

orthogonality — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 04:30:20 -0800

Maybe outsourcing is the answer. Canadian importers detected the salmonella tainted peanut products, and, prior to eight Americans dying from it, informed the US FDA. "The FDA failing to follow up after this incident, does that mean that products that are not good enough for a foreign country are still good enough for the USA? That's a double standard that has deadly consequences for our citizens." What's especially troubling is that scores of American food producers who used the tainted peanut products, and our toothless FDA watchdogs, failed to notice what, apparently, a single Canadian importer was able to see.

Society upto speed?

daksya — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:59:15 -0800

Towards responsible use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by the healthy - a commentary in Nature that says, "we call for a presumption that mentally competent adults should be able to engage in cognitive enhancement using drugs". Farkesque debate here. Some earlier related FPPs: "By their drugs shall ye know them." Nootropics ("smart" drugs)

Prescription Derringer.

blaneyphoto — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:49:35 -0800

The single-shot Palm Pistol... The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted a conceptual, ergonomic 9mm handgun — designed for people crippled by arthritis, muscular dystrophy, or similar conditions that render them too weak to operate normal handguns — as a Class 1 Medical Device.... doctors could eventually write prescriptions for it and then be reimbursed by Medicare.

Would you like obesity with that?

wierdo — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:08:38 -0800

Bisphenol A. Canada is banning it in baby bottles, while the California State Senate recently passed a bill to ban it in child care products. Even the US Senate is getting in on the action. Bill Moyers thought it was interesting enough to run this Expose story. In addition to the previously discussed cancer risk, it may also cause obesity. Is this pointless overreaction, or is it an example of government's failure to act [PDF] in the face of industry pressure? The FDA, was, after all, tasked with screening such endocrine disruptors over ten years ago. Previously on the blue and green.

We've Replaced The Patient's Blood With PolyHeme. Let's See If They Notice.

scrump — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:54:31 -0800

The blood substitute PolyHeme has been previously discussed on MetaFilter, but new evidence shows that PolyHeme actually raises the chances of death by nearly 30%. PolyHeme was notable mostly for the reaction to its clinical trials, which, controversially, did not require patient consent.

Sustainability

homunculus — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:46:13 -0800

Our Decrepit Food Factories. Michael Pollan on what sustainability is really about. [Via Gristmill.]

American Knockoffs

Kirth Gerson — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:45:57 -0800

A nation of outlaws. A century and a half ago, another fast-growing nation had a reputation for sacrificing standards to its pursuit of profit, and it was the United States.

Bioethics discussions are fun when you aren't about to die.

BrotherCaine — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:48:53 -0800

Dying for Lifesaving Drugs: Will desperate patients destroy the pharmaceutical system that produces tomorrow's treatments?Reason Magazine

Orphan Grain

Kirth Gerson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:58:40 -0800

In January 2006, small amounts of genetically engineered rice turned up in a shipment that was tested ... by a French customer of Riceland Foods, a big rice mill based in Stuttgart, Ark. Testing revealed that the genetically modified rice contained a strain of Liberty Link that had not been approved for human consumption. What's more, trace amounts of the Liberty Link had mysteriously made their way into the commercial rice supply in all five of the Southern states where long-grain rice is grown. Aventis Crop Science had contracted with a handful of farmers to grow the rice, which was known as Liberty Link because its genes had been altered to resist a weed killer called Liberty, also made by Aventis. Then, the French pharmaceutical giant that owned Aventis Crop Science decided to sell the U.S. biotech unit and abandon the very emotional business of reengineering the foods we eat. "We didn't want to take any chances," says a former Aventis executive. "We burned and buried enough rice to feed 20 million people." Last November, the USDA retroactively approved the Liberty Link rice for human consumption.

I love the smell of free trade in the morning...smells like antifreeze

dejah420 — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 12:40:43 -0800

First hundreds of pets were killed by the poisonous food additive, melamine, from China. Then it turns out that this poison got into the human food chain leading to humans. Then there was the flap about cough syrup killing thousands of people. Then, there was that warning a couple days ago about imported monkfish actually being deadly puffer fish. And now the FDA has issued warnings that toothpaste imported from China has ethylene glycol in it. Yes, the same ethylene glycol that keeps your engine running in the winter. China responds to the warnings by saying "Hey, we printed the ingredients on most of the labels, it's not our fault if antifreeze kills you."

FDA detains Chinese food imports.

dejah420 — Tue, 01 May 2007 10:49:20 -0800

Melamine found in almost half of all Chinese food imports now on the banned list. The Food and Drug Administration is enforcing a new import alert that greatly expands its curtailment of some food ingredients imported from China, authorizing border inspectors to detain ingredients used in everything from noodles to breakfast bars. The FDA has also announced that melamine laced products have found their way into the human consumption cycle via poultry and pork. Interesting to note that the budget for FDA inspections is at it's lowest level ever, and that only 1% of all imports actually get inspected.

“If you come back and live in my factory, you can have all the Cacao Beans you want!

chuckdarwin — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 08:24:03 -0800

Europeans love to bash American chocolate - especially Hershey's - almost as much as the like to bash, erm, America in general (apparently, it tastes like doggie treats). Recently, Big Chocolate have asked the FDA if they can stop using real cocoa butter in the chocolate-making process, which can only make it taste even worse. I often wonder how many so-called chocoholics know that most of the chocolate they eat was probably picked by slave labour in West Africa. Child slaves, even. Meh, they probably don't care: research indicates that chocolate is 'four times better than kissing'. Never trust a junkie.

FDA approves cloned meat

knave — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:48:12 -0800

FDA approves meat and milk from cloned animals, no labels necessary.

Terrorist (Yeast) Cell Extract

scblackman — Mon, 23 Oct 2006 06:14:12 -0800

TSA Alert: US Bans Vegemite. Is it because this yeast extract tastes bad? Do the Marmite ^ people have some sinister influence? Has Australia offended our government somehow? How is it that a product that has been around for 80 years suddenly becomes forbidden? Who would ban a product that can help prevent neural tube defects (e.g., spina bifida)? Blame the FDA, whose has ruled that folate (folic acid) "should be kept under 1 mg per day ... because higher intake may complicate the diagnosis of pernicious anemia, one form of vitamin B12 deficiency, which especially affects older people." Of course pernicious anemia is rare (less than 10-20 cases/100,000 people per year in the US), as is the Vegemite market. But when has logic ever dictated policy. The international fallout has already started:

"I am never going to America", vows Xochiquetal, while a commenter at Geelong blogger Bernie Slattery’s site foresees US regulators going even further down the road to absurdity, "Americans don’t know what they’re missing … they’ll be banning Tim Tams next."

If the government wanted to ban something Australian, the least they could have done is started here.

Cold medicine to be restricted starting this weekend

jaimev — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 10:20:49 -0800

Feeling sick and thinking of buying over-the-counter cold medicine like Sudafed or Claritin-D? Be prepared to wait in line at the pharmacy counter, show a photo ID, and sign a log book. The nationwide restriction of medication containing pseudoephedrine or ephedrine begins this weekend. Why? Those 2 ingredients are used to make meth.. (NPR audio piece).

No Need for a Plan B for Plan B

scblackman — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 07:49:37 -0800

[NewsFilter] A partial victory for public health over politics. Amazingly, the FDA has finally, after 3 years of wrangling, approved over-the-counter sale of Plan B, an emergency contraceptive pill. The victory is partial because you need to be 18 or older to purchase it without a doctor's note. If you're under 18, you need to still have documentation from your physician (or nurse practitioner). The politics behind the approval process were laid bare in this (sincerely) fascinating GAO report [note: links to .pdf file]. I also hope that OTC approval will avoid this.

Plan B previously discussed on MeFi here.

Politics at the FDA

daksya — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:25:55 -0800

"In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) distributed a 38-question survey to 5,918 FDA scientists to examine the state of science at the FDA. The results paint a picture of a troubled agency: hundreds of scientists reported significant interference with the FDA’s scientific work, compromising the agency’s ability to fulfill its mission of protecting public health and safety."

Forever Pregnant II: Morality Boogaloo

boost ventilator — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 18:43:10 -0800

The new lies about women's health (image slightly NSFW) according to Glamour. More on why every egg is sacred to the Bush administration. [via Wired's Sex Drive Daily]