Survey Finds FDA Lacks Independence from Outside Pressures
Via Ms. Magazine (August 2, 2006):
Scientists found that scientists at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) feel that their work is subject to outside pressures, both political and commercial, and that these pressures influence agency conclusions for the public. The anonymous survey was sent to close to 6,000 FDA scientists and 997 responded, 62 percent of whom are senior scientists.
The survey found that 18 percent of the scientists had been asked “for non-scientific reasons, to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information” for FDA documents. Sixty-one percent had knowledge of instances where political appointees had “inappropriately injected themselves into FDA determinations or actions.” Seventeen percent, or 169 scientists, responded that they had been asked to “provide incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information to the public, regulated industry, media or elected/senior government officials.”