Who Is the FDA Really Protecting?

FDA's Mission Statement

The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. 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.

Anyone who has been in a grocery store in the USA knows that there are thousands of choices to make. The assumption is that all of the food is safe for consumption and it will do no harm. People study for years to be a doctor or a lawyer or an accountant or a tradesman but know one has to go to school to learn how to buy food or feed their families so their family stays healthy and they do not get sick.

I had a father-in-law who may have not been well educated in school but knew more than most. One of his brightest statements was 'figures lie and liars figure'. People buy and feed their families and everyone will eventually die but know one really knows the relationship between food and disease and how much different types of food shortens a person's life.

I wrote an e-book several years ago about all this. The title was called 'Capitalism is Killing Us All'.

The goal of the food companies is to make money for their stock holders. The goal of the drug companies is exactly the same to make money for their stockholders.

It is a complicated situation. The goal of the food companies should be to produce food that keeps people healthy so that they do not get obese and so they do not need drugs to keep them alive. If everyone was healthy and did not require a lot of food than the food companies would not sell as much food and not make as much money and no body would need drugs and so the drug companies would also not make as much money.

Taking this argument a step further - if something that only cost a few dollars could keep you from getting sick or keep you from getting diabetes or cancer why do we have to buy expensive drug invented by man to keep us healthy. You can see where I am going with this. Those of you who are old enough to remember how polio was a dreaded disease but was a large portion of the drug industry disappeared almost over night after Dr. Salk invented the polio vaccine.

Drug companies do not want to cure anybody even though the FDA only allows drug companies to say that they cure disease. Drug companies want to keep people alive so that they continually need to buy drugs to stay alive and consume more drugs and make more money for the drug companies.

So who is the FDA really protecting? Yes they keep the food industry and drug industry in check but who is really benefiting and at what cost?

If people eat more than they need to who benefits? The person eating the food or the the company producing the food? Anybody who has eaten something sweet for breakfast knows that they will be hungry for more food earlier in the day than the person who ate a healthier breakfast. The challenge is knowing what is considered a healthier breakfast? The phrase that 'figures lie and liar figure will come into play by who is manipulating the data to make their product the product of choice. for breakfast.

This whole topic is very complicated because everyone has different bodies and no one eats one type of food all the time and no one usually dies from one helping of anything unless the food contains poison or a bacteria. The FDA does a good job in keeping our food safe from poisons and bacteria but a poor job from protecting us from food additives that make something taste better, or increases the shelf life, or make it look better. These are all things that help the food companies make more money but who knows what the long term effect is on the person consuming the product and since there is no immediate effect who really cares. Concerns for additives only come up when a competitor wants people to buy their product and not someone else's product. For example artificial sweeteners vs. sugar vs stevia all have reports that come out on a periodic basis to make arguments for their product.

One of the most compelling arguments we hear from the food and drug industries is that the average age of people is more now than it was a hundred years ago. This is another one of those figures lie and liars figure arguments.. This is true except when you compare our life expectancy with the rest of the world. We are a dismal 39th in the world when compared with other industrialized countries and how much better would are life be if we had access to more fresh fruits and vegetables, ate less meat, exercised more.

We may have to do this outside of the the traditional ways of getting our food by starting local coop farms, growing food our selves, eating more live food and less prepared food. What would happen to the food industry and the drug industries if everyone got healthier? Our need for hospitals and drugs would go down, we would need less health insurance, we might help the medical industry from going down the tubes. If we wait for others to help us we will wait in vain. If you want this to happen we need to start from the bottom up and not wait for the existing institutions to do the right thing...

Peter Blackman was an Engineer, Insurance Agent and Financial Advisor is now interested in making a difference and giving back. It is time to be bold and do what is good for everyone rather than what is just good for the few. Peter has his own home-based business and has been able to put together training for anyone who joins his organization. We start off by showing people how to get off on the right foot and treat their new business as a business teaching what kind of record keeping is necessary to get all the deductions that are possible with this type of business. Peter is also Science and Technology Editor for One Planet Magazine and on line free Magazine [http://www.ezfamilyhealth.com] http://www.squidoo.com/businessdeductions