The FDA indicts itself

Life Extension, July, 2008 by William Faloon

PROBLEMS ARE WORSE THAN FDA ADMITS

In doing the research to write this editorial, I uncovered many recent reports from outside organizations harshly critical of the FDA. These reports made national news for a day or two and were then quickly forgotten. (14-24)

We at Life Extension cannot pretend these problems disappear the day after the news reports them. That's because we are on the front lines every single day battling to keep our aging members alive and in good heath.

Our greatest impediment to saving human lives is an incompetent and corrupt federal bureaucracy that is strangling medical innovation, especially in the areas of genomics and biotechnology where breakthroughs in anti-aging medicine are most expected.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I routinely talk with scientists about methods to significantly extend our life spans, but the problem with "the FDA" inevitably arises. If the FDA's bureaucratic roadblock is not torn down, we may all succumb to a disease that liberated scientists could readily prevent or cure.

Please know that there is not a magic immortality pill that the FDA is directly suppressing. Instead, the FDA is restraining the ability for medical science to progress. This is no longer just my opinion. The FDA itself admits it cannot keep up with advances in science. So discoveries that could save human lives are not getting approved by the FDA and the cost is thousands of American lives being lost each day.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO STOP THIS CARNAGE?

There are a number of proposls to turn around this lethal barrier to medical progress called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Some politicians say throw more tax dollars at the problem, while other politicians refuse to reward an agency with so much documented incompetence.

We at Life Extension look at the hard science and the free market as the best solution to quickly end this bureaucratic abomination. Unlike scholars who leisurely debate the best way to reform the FDA, Life Extension is obligated to represent the health interests of our aging members today!

The FDA's own report makes it clear that scientific innovation is suffocated by bureaucratic red tape and incompetency. Yet a medical renaissance is needed if our generation is to achieve dramatically extended life spans.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The only way to liberate scientific ingenuity is to allow Americans to obtain therapies that are clearly marked "Not approved by the FDA." Under this free market scenario, those who want the so-called "protection" the FDA previously pretended it provided could continue receiving it.

Enlightened individuals and their doctors, on the other hand, would be able to choose novel therapies that are clearly labeled "Not approved by the FDA."

Since it costs so much for a new drug to be approved, therapies that do not have to go through this arduous (and antiquated) approval process would cost less than outlandishly priced "approved" prescription drugs.

DON'T LET MEDICAL INNOVATION BE HELD HOSTAGE TO FDA BUREAUCRACY!