informant38
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...But of these sophisms and elenchs of merchandise I skill not...
Milton, Areopagitica

Except he had found the
standing sea-rock that even this last
Temptation breaks on; quieter than death but lovelier; peace
that quiets the desire even of praising it.

Jeffers, Meditation On Saviors


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4.11.02

America's legal drug pushers are once again free to offer their potent concoctions for our kids' consumption without having to prove that they are safe or effective for pediatric use.
This is no small matter, given the skyrocketing number of children being prescribed heaping helpings of powerful mood-altering drugs.
For instance, 1.5 million kids are currently taking Prozac and its equivalents even though the FDA hasn't approved these drugs for use by anyone under 18.


In making his ruling, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy, Jr. made it clear that the problem wasn't the FDA's attempt to protect our kids, but Congress' failure to authorize them to do so. He pointed out that earlier this year Congress considered but passed on the chance to require drug companies to make sure that products designed for grown-ups but regularly given to kids are, in fact, safe for children to take. But Capitol Hill is not the only pharmaceutical industry-friendly place in Washington. The drug companies also appear to have found an ally inside the highest echelons of the FDA.


In keeping with the White House's habit of assigning foxes to guard the henhouses they used to stalk -- including the tres-vulpine Harvey Pitt and Gale Norton -- last summer the president appointed lawyer Daniel Troy as the FDA's general counsel. While in private practice, Troy had successfully challenged the agency's power to regulate drug companies -- particularly the companies' ability to freely promote and market their products.


It probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise then that, from his lofty post, Troy has overseen a dramatic decrease in the number of drug companies that have been reprimanded for running false or misleading commercials -- even as the drug ads filling our TV screens and magazines have multiplied. Of course, it could just be that the drug companies have all joined the Boy Scouts and are now being meticulously honest and trustworthy.

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