FDA science and mission at risk.

• Position: Your Life - Food and Drug Administration - Brief article

The nation's public health is at risk, as are the regulatory systems that oversee the nation's drug and device supplies, according to a Food and Drug Administration Science Board report, which attributes the deficiencies to soaring demands on the FDA and resources that have not increased in proportion to those demands. It concludes that "this imbalance is imposing a significant risk to the integrity of the food, drug, cosmetic, and device regulatory system, and hence the safety of the public."

"Over the last decade, complex scientific advances, globalization, and challenging new safety issues have combined to multiply the responsibilities of the FDA. As the FDA Science Board report makes clear: our expectations cannot exceed the resources we give the FDA to accomplish its mission. In this regard, more is definitely better," asserts Mark McClellan, FDA commissioner and chairman of the new Reagan-Udall Institute...