FDA: the gutless tiger

Nutrition Action Healthletter, July-August, 2003 by Michael F. Jacobson

Enron, Jack in the Box, Arthur Andersen, Martha Stewart. In today's world, greed and carelessness often trump decency, caution, and safety. That's why we need strong regulatory agencies to prevent the excesses of a free market place. And why the Center for Science in the Public Interest (publisher of Nutrition Action Healthletter) is trying to increase the budget of the foods division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ... and why we pepper the agency with complaints about dangerous foods and deceptive food labels.

Unfortunately, the FDA isn't living up to its responsibilities:

* Hundreds of foods bear phony "whole grain," "all fruit," "natural," and other claims. And thousands of products' ingredients aren't listed "prominently and conspicuously," as the law requires.

* The FDA doesn't consider it "harm" when a food ingredient like olestra or Quorn causes vomiting, dehydration, and other reactions in some consumers. And its efforts to prevent food poisoning have been anemic.

* The FDA doesn't take the initiative to propose clearer labels or other ways to encourage people to eat more healthful foods. Instead, it recently weakened the law against making unsubstantiated health claims on package labels.

* The FDA lets the dietary supplement industry hawk many products that are backed by flimsy--or no--science (although Congress clipped the agency's wings in 1994 when it last took an aggressive stance).

Clearly, some of the FDA's slowness and inactivity is due to inadequate staffing. Despite the growth of the food industry, the increasing complexity of the food supply, and new laws that need to be enforced, the staff of the FDA's food labeling and nutrition division is about half its size of 10 years ago. The FDA needs more muscle.

But it also needs more guts. The agency simply doesn't have what it takes to challenge unsafe and deceptively labeled products. Congressional investigations into whether the FDA is truly living up to its responsibilities would help, but they're unlikely any time soon.

So it's up to you, your friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers to speak up and say 'I've had enough of the FDA's failure to enforce the law."

I urge you to send a copy of this editorial, along with a personal note, to your Congressperson, Senators, and the editor of your local newspaper.

Michael F. Jacobson, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Center for Science in the Public Interest