Throughout its history, the Federal Reserve has jealously guarded its independence, and one of the first things chairman-designate Ben Bernanke made clear when he was tapped to succeed Alan Greenspan was that the agency wasn’t taking orders from anyone.
“I would bear the critical responsibility of preserving the independent and nonpartisan status of the Federal Reserve,” Bernanke said during a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee last week.
It’s time for the Food and Drug Administration to take the same pledge.
If there is any agency in the federal government that the public depends on for independent and non-partisan judgment, it is the FDA, regulator of food and drug safety. Yet, the agency has abandoned its integrity on the relatively straightforward issue of allowing consumers to purchase the so-called “Plan B” morning-after pill without a prescription.
The Plan B contains high doses of the hormone used in birth-control pills and is intended for use within 24-72 hours after unprotected sex. Anti-abortion activists object to the emergency contraceptive on the belief it can be used to destroy an already fertilized egg – though medical experts say it won’t work if the woman is pregnant.
Currently, a prescription is required. FDA scientists and a review panel of outside experts found that the pill was safe for over-the-counter sales and recommended approval, but top FDA executives rejected the recommendation.
Women deserve a safe and effective contraceptive and rely on the FDA to make its determination based on safety and medical factors, not political ideology. A Government Accountability Office probe into the activities that led to the rejection found that FDA’s top administrators had planned to reject it even before the scientific reviews. Imagine that!
The FDA claimed it denied over- the-counter status because the drug maker, Barr Laboratories Inc., failed to prove that it could be used safely by girls under 16. The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, noted that no other over-the-counter birth control methods carry similar age restrictions.
Since the FDA rejection, Barr Labs has submitted a new request, asking that the pill be sold without a prescription to women 17 and older, while those 16 and under would need a prescription. The FDA still has not acted, though the pill could reduce the very thing anti-abortion activists fear most – more abortions.
Food and drug safety are critical regulatory issues whose judgments should remain independent of politics.
