A recent driving-related arrest of a respected local journalist, Record Opinion Editor Jim Sutton, who had taken Ambien (a prescription sleep aid), reminds us of the truth about Food and Drug Administration. It is corrupt. Much of the FDA story was reported by reporter Walt Bogdanich (now with the New York Times, who reported on our coverup-prone St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR last year for the Times and PBS Frontline).
We need to reform FDA as we know it. Our federal legislators must halt TV ads for prescription drugs marketed to patients, billions of dollars each year.
Our Food and Drug Administration is industry-dominated, based on "user fees" and incredibly allows dangerous drugs to be marketed directly to patients on TV, something only New Zealand allows. Patients are enlisted to nag overworked physicians to prescribe medicine, the same way children are enlisted to nag parents for junk food.
It's wrong.
Apparent Ambien victims, like Record Opinion Editor Jim Sutton, should consult legal counsel and sue the pants off of Sanofi-Aventis, Ambien's manufacturer for products liability. The hypnotic, addictive dangerous drug deserves stricter regulatory scrutiny. Too often, Americans are treated as guinea pigs by Big Pharma.
Your readers support you, Mr. Sutton. Be not afraid. Suing the manufacturer is the right thing to do.
You can help right a wrong and better educate your readers, who are ill-informed about the virtues of tort litigation by the corporate moguls who own the St. Augustine Record. Without tort lawsuits, we wouldn't have seatbelts, airbags or safety glass in automobiles.
What do you reckon?
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