.jpg)
*The Food and Drug Administration wants everyone to believe that jalapeno peppers from Mexico are to blame for the salmonella poisoning of nearly 1,300 people across the United States and Canada.
The agency came to that conclusion last week after discovering one tainted pepper at a Texas produce distribution plant which came from Mexico. Before that, the agency blamed the outbreak on tomatoes and warned everyone against eating them. U.S. tomato producers have lost millions of dollars over what has turned out to be a costly rush to judgment by the FDA.
Yet, when it comes to regulating U.S. pharmaceutical companies and the tons of new drugs produced every year in America – which would be the most appropriate time to over-react – the agency seems to turn a blind eye.
Veggies aside, the FDA regulates over $1 trillion worth of products, which account for 25 cents of every dollar spent every year. As part of the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency regulates our food and blood supply, cosmetics and medicines. It also is supposed to insure truth in product labels, so companies won’t claim their products cure ailments when in fact they don’t.
You can’t watch a thirty-minute television program without seeing commercials hyping the latest in prescription drugs, not cures, but rather pills to dull the pain. It leads me to think the goal of most drug companies is to create millions of prescription drug junkies while making a profit along the way.
But who’s minding the front door to the store that leads to the health and well-being of Americans?
In a recent article FDA officials admitted they are not living up to its mission, and there are plenty of statistics to prove it.
Half of the women and 40 percent of the men in the United States have recently used prescription drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency says 9 million Americans use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes including weight loss and sexual enhancement.
When it comes to approving new drugs, the FDA doesn’t do the research itself, it examines the results of studies done by the drug companies. That’s like trusting the New York City Police Department to investigate it’s own police brutality. Some important details probably will be left out of the paperwork.
Aside from living under the cloudy and unrealistic influence of drugs most people ignore the dangers of side effects. Near the end of most of those drug commercials are the long lists of side effects which include irregular heart beats, head aches and night sweats, four-hour erections, loss of vision and hearing. It’s not worth it?
When it comes to what we eat and drink we are at the mercy of others. Even if we cook our own food we don’t know if the hands that produced it were clean or if the crop was laced with salmonella.
Most people have more control over their drug consumption and should think about the consequences of their actions, not just the possible loss of money, but their lives as well.
The older I get the more I appreciate my grandmother’s backyard garden and home remedies – God rest her soul. The only side effects were a fat belly and satisfaction guaranteed.
Steffanie Rivers is a free-lance journalist living in Dallas, Texas. Send your questions and comments to her at teamtcbadvertising@hotmail.com.