Dianne Feinstein: “S. 830, the bill before us today, will improve the tools used by the Federal Food and Drug Administration to bring more…”

“S. 830, the bill before us today, will improve the tools used by the Federal Food and Drug Administration to bring more, safe and effective drugs, biologics and medical devices to the American people more quickly. FDA is one of our Government's most important agencies because FDA approves life-saving medicines and devices and FDA protects us from unsafe and ineffective medicines and devices. Thanks to FDA, products like defective heart pacemakers, dangerous intrauterine devices, and overheating infant incubators are not sold. FDA's 2,100 scientists and 7,000 other employees monitor about $1 trillion worth of products each year, inspect over 15,000 facilities a year, and examine about 80,000 product samples. FDA finds about 3,000 products a year unfit for consumers and detains 30,000 imports a year at ports of entry. Hope for Cures for Diseases Millions of Americans have serious, debilitating illnesses for which there is no treatment or cure.”