Recieved this today. What are your thoughts on his reply?
June 27, 2014
Dear Mrs. Young,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I appreciate hearing your views on this agency and its practices.
As a physician, I understand the importance of safe medical treatment. Under current law, the FDA must approve all pharmaceuticals and medical devices before they can be marketed in the U.S. The FDA's approval process can last 10 years or longer, and often costs manufacturing companies hundreds of millions of dollars. Testing is used to guard against the potential of new drugs causing harm to patients and to prove their effectiveness; however, other patients who might have been helped by the medicine may suffer because of the FDA's delay.
With regard to food safety, the FDA plays an important role in ensuring that the American food supply is free from disease and fit for human consumption. However, recent salmonella and E. coli outbreaks have coincided with controversies about an FDA-approved process for combating these very diseases in certain beef products, and about the approval of genetically modified foods. Such dilemmas are evidence of the impossibility of regulating every dietary choice in a nation of over 310 million people. Moreover, increasingly belligerent SWAT-style enforcement tactics against Amish farmers, farm-to-fork picnic-goers, and herbal healers suggest that today's FDA can be more focused on harassing private citizens than it is ensuring the safety of our food supply.
Additional regulations, labeling requirements, and lengthy review and approval processes do not always protect the interests of every consumer, and frequently put the FDA at odds with its own mission. Other industries where public safety is paramount, such as consumer electrics and automobile crash testing, rely on independent certification processes from third parties.
On May 23, 2012, I introduced an amendment to S. 3187, the Food and Drug Administration User Fee Reauthorization, which would curb the FDA's overreach and abuse of power by disarming the FDA, put an end to raids on natural food stores and Amish farmers, and stop FDA censorship of truthful claims of dietary supplements. Unfortunately, my amendment was defeated, but rest assured that I will continue to work with my colleagues on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to reform the FDA's practices and budget and to narrow its mission in order to better serve the public interest.
Again, thank you for contacting my office. It is an honor and a privilege to represent the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the United States Senate. Please continue to inform me of any thoughts you may have on federal legislative issues.
Sincerely,
Rand Paul, MD
United States Senator
