Is Embattled FDA the Best Watchdog?
Medical device manufacturers insist that the Food and Drug Administration should be the sole authority on whether their products are safe for consumers. Allowing individual states to impose their own regulations on medical devices would create a tangled mess of conflicting state laws and standards, industry officials say. In the Riegel case, the Supreme Court agreed with the manufacturers and ruled that FDA approvals exempt them from state personal injury lawsuits. However, recent developments have illustrated the FDA’s shocking inability to ensure the safety of consumer products. Numerous incidents involving contaminated food, prescription drugs, and other dangerous products have lead to countless serious injuries and deaths and prompted members of Congress and various consumer watchdog groups to question the FDA’s ability to do its job. Scandals involving salmonella-tainted tomatoes, counterfeit pharmaceuticals such as Heparin, and children’s toys coated in toxic lead paint have rock
