Sherrod Brown: “Today, we are likely to wrap up consideration of legislation that modifies the rules governing the FDA, an agency that…”

“Today, we are likely to wrap up consideration of legislation that modifies the rules governing the FDA, an agency that oversees all of the medical products we use and most of the food we eat. FDA came into being about a century ago because Americans were being sold medicines that caused injury, that caused birth defects, that even caused death; and Americans were consuming food products that too often were not safe. Those kinds of medicines were being sold as cures, but they didn't cure anything. FDA's first responsibility--first responsibility--is to safeguard the health of American consumers. But because the products under FDA's authority account for 25 cents out of every dollar U.S. consumers spend, there is a pull on the agency that has nothing to do with patient safety and everything to do with drugs, both brand name and generic, and medical device industry profits. I remember a few years ago, when I served as ranking member of the Commerce Committee's Health Subcommittee in the House of Representatives, a representative from FDA started his testimony to us in front of that subcommittee by showing us a chart that tracked the U.S. drug industry's global market share. As I told that representative, FDA is not the marketing arm of the drug industry. It is the patient safety arm of the Federal Government, to guarantee safe products for Americans who consume medicine, food, and the like.”