Beating the bullies at their own game
Judging from what I've been reading lately, the FDA sounds more like a high school locker room than it does a government regulatory office. Apparently the agency is divided into two camps -- bullies and their targets, who seem to spend their days cowering behind their desks doing the bidding of their persecutors (for fear of what, I'm not sure -- getting shoved into the nearest locker, perhaps…?). But recently, a group of nine FDA scientists decided to stand up for themselves, by "tattling" on the managers they accuse of intimidating them. All tongue-in-cheek comparisons aside, though, what has come out of this accusation is, if not surprising, then at least more than a little disturbing. In the letters they sent to top politicians and the president, the scientists claim that FDA managers intimidate and coerce scientists at the agency into "changing or suppressing scientific data." The article I read went on to say that "according to the scientists, FDA employees are regularly pressured to conform to their managers' agendas…and are discouraged from raising safety concerns that management does not want to hear…Employees who fail to follow the party line are often threatened with disciplinary action." The scientists also claim that when they brought this issue to the attention of the FDA Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner for Accountability and Integrity, their concerns were ignored. In fact, they say that "many of the most delinquent managers have since been promoted or otherwise rewarded. No one has been disciplined." This is just one more instance in a long string of examples that prove the need for FDA reform. The good news is, several key health organizations including the American Association for Health Freedom and the Life Extension Foundation are leading just such a reform effort. And you can help them to get that effort underway by visiting www.reformFDA.org and signing the petition you'll find there. Source:
"FDA scientists accuse agency of corruption, intimidation," Natural News (www.naturalnews.com), 3/12/09 | 
