The FDA is a quasi-judicial agency with no Congressional oversight. The Board is comprised of former heads of the drug companies that apply for FDA approval. There is an inherent conflict of interest built into this FDA approval system that must be re-evaluated in order for the public to trust the FDA approval process. As it stands now, there are too many unsafe products and drugs not being vetted properly that cause harm to the public. IE: Vioxx - a multi-billion dollar money-making drug ultimately recalled because it caused death (as many as 55,000 people in one estimate)When it comes to saving Merck in the Vioxx litigation, the FDA is at odds with some of the most powerful leaders in Congress. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is on record as saying the Vioxx debacle has shown that the FDA has gotten too cozy with drug companies to conduct proper oversight.When it comes to saving Merck in the Vioxx litigation, the FDA is at odds with some of the most powerful leaders in Congress. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is on record as saying the Vioxx debacle has shown that the FDA has gotten too cozy with drug companies to conduct proper oversight.

How could you not research this before some doctor cuts you open and changes your appearance? I don't trust the FDA and look at any medication or procedure through my own research and talk to others. Even if you want a procedure you have to look at all the risks. I thought about breast implants for five minutes until I realized they weren't really necessary. The FDA is a joke and I empathize with your bad experience. I had an idiot doctor tell me that if I had a baby it would help my endometriosis. This guy is a moron because I had repeatedly told him I HATE KIDS. When I looked up this disease I found there is nothing that states having a child will get rid of or improve this disease. I also talked to two women who had kids and their endometriosis was as bad as ever, plus they had to deal with children along with their illness. I've since switched doctors. I agree that we need a leader who cares about all risks and demands that they are displayed for the public.

Everything Kacey has with saline implanted my sis had but we found out too late.Andrea Weber died Jan.2005 at age 25 One dr out of tons told her to get them out.

Thanks Kacey . . . There are so many women suffering because of breast implants. The sad thing is that the government knows this. There are hundreds of thousands of MedWatch reports on file because of health problems experienced by women after getting breast implants. There are hundred of MedWatch reports file on behalf of children who became ill because of their mothers implants. How this can continue is something I've been asking for years. There have been no significant studies of SICK implanted women, or their offspring, despite the fact that breast implants have been on the market for over forty years. . . Why? Why? Why?

Kacey -- thanks for your bravery in telling your personal story. So many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of women suffer in silence because of their problems with breast implants. And every single one of them thought the implants were safe when they got them. And so few doctors are willing to take the women's illnesses seriously because of the distortion of the issue in the media. I agree -- our new President has to take women's health and safety seriously. We need an FDA that works!

We shouldn't have to wait for individual cases to effect each and every member of the general public before they learn of the incompetence of organizations such as the FDA and USDA. I hope you and other voters know that the only candidate that could possibly address these problems is the consumer-advocate Ralph Nader. The others are too tied into the current political system to even dare change the government's deep-seated infrastructure-- a task of which only Nader with his stark uncompromising beliefs of government for the people can do. At any cost we must take the government back away from the corporate oligarchies that endanger the lives of you and your children each day. Don't believe there is a middle road with Obama, and certainly not Clinton-- there is only one candidate that can turn this situation around.