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October 25, 2005

Fight for Your Rights

For the past two years the FDA has been playing footsie with Conservative Christian groups which has led to a huge clog in the drainpipe that is the current Food and Drug Administration. It all has to do with Plan B which is an emergency contraceptive and it's move (or not) to non-prescription status.

They have been holding up this process for two years for no obvious or stated reason other than that the monkeys are now running the zoo. At one point there was a concern that young girls could purchase Plan B if it were on the shelves of your local drugstore which may conflict with local legislation of that young girl's body. Also, there was a concern over possible health implications of the drug on adolescents and the lack of sufficient data on the effects of the drug on adolescents. The request was then altered to include the stipulation that the product would be behind the pharmacy counter but not require a prescription for women 16 or older and would still require a prescription for women under 16.

The FDA still refused to grant approval and what's more refused to inform the petitioner as to why the drug wasn't approved. This is the important part. Under normal circumstances the FDA usually lets the petitioner know not only that the drug isn't approved but also lists the reasons why the drug is not approved as well as what steps the petitioner must take toward approval.

The FDA advisory committee has recommended Plan B for approval and yet the FDA consistently refuses to announce one way or another. At one point earlier this year, the FDA was granted funding by the Senate with a promise that the FDA would announce in August 2005 one way or the other whether Plan B would be approved. Note they weren't forced to approve it; they were forced to decide whether to approve it. August came and went and still the Administration kept quite.

Then Susan F. Wood, the top Food and Drug Administration official in charge of women's health issues resigned in protest. Finally, FDA chief Lester Crawford was forced to resign as well. Lester had an embattled tenure as FDA chief ever since being appointed by Bush to take the position. (Hmm. A Bush appointee failing miserably...that sounds familiar.)

This is getting ridiculous. I'm getting sick and tired of a small group of overzealous ignorant white men taking liberties with the interpretation of a 2000 year old book telling me what to do!!! To say nothing of the fact that these cronies so concerned about the health of young women are also the idiots who refuse to allow schools and teachers to educate them about their bodies.

What You Can Do

Posted by mermu at October 25, 2005 11:45 AM

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