Tuesday, December 11, 2007

An excellent reminder of the state of the stewardship of the nation

AMERCIAblog:

Lives are at risk because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is woefully behind in the latest scientific advances and is underfunded for its vast responsibilities, an expert panel will tell the FDA on Monday.

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Yeah...I've known this for years. The FDA and other regulatory bodies are being underfunded. The move to let business regulate itself is sadly a strong one. And haven't the toy makers been making a good go of supporting that argument? As have spinach producers and meat packers.

Regulation is a needed step. Business will rarely regulate itself. Hence the parts of HIPAA that regulate medical service use of patient data, and the FDIC's pull with financial institutions. Hospital and banks would not take the needed steps without the pressure on them to do the right thing. It just is not prudent for business demands.


It is like the current issues with credit cards. The pressure is on getting rates lower for people in debt. Fine. That is good. But what about your digits? The ones in the system, at the stores, in those databases, just sitting there. Are they protected? What are the rules? There are no rules and inadequate protection. Moves in the industry to regulate are slow and whines about. If government stepped in and said, certain cards would no longer be allowed, if changes weren't made, or a chain store would not be allowed to take cards, unless...Well, change and security would sweep in.


With critical industry, we need regulation. And for regulation, funding and support.

In many cases lives are at stake.

But as a liberal I obviously only just want big government.

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