Once Again, It’s Time to Give Thanks to FDA
This week, many of us will be sitting down to a Thanksgiving dinner and talking about the parts of our lives for which we are grateful.
Consider adding thanks to FDA and its more than 15,000 diligent and dedicated staff.
And a special thanks to the inspectors and compliance staff who never get sufficient credit for their difficult, invisible, and potentially dangerous work overseeing nearly 300,000 FDA-regulated facilities, including farms, food and medical ingredient processing plants, and medical manufacturing facilities (here). Each FDA employee plays a vital role in ensuring that our food is safe and that medical products are safe and effective. Collectively, they oversee $3.9 trillion worth of food, medical, and tobacco products in the US and abroad (here)
Yet, we rarely give thanks for the public benefits derived from an effective, efficient, and fair FDA.
First among those benefits is the confidence each of us has when we sit down for a meal or use a drug or medical device.
Around the Thanksgiving table, we can see the positive role of the agency in our everyday lives. The biggest item on the table — the turkey — is regulated by USDA (you knew that), but consider who has oversight over the feed to make the turkey grow (FDA), any drugs, if needed, to help keep it healthy (FDA), the stuffing to go in it (FDA), and the gravy to go on it (FDA).
Plus, safe food handling processes and directions are on the FDA website. (Check it out!) Other items likely to be on the table are regulated at some point and in some way by FDA: the sweet potatoes, the string beans, the cranberries, and the pumpkin pie.
We share the Thanksgiving table with our friends and family, many of whom can lead productive, caring lives because of FDA-approved medical products.
I think about my grandfather, who died at 60 from a stroke before I could enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with him. The FDA-approved medicines we have today could certainly have prevented the stroke. If a stroke occurred, he would have been diagnosed and treated more rapidly at the emergency room with FDA-approved tests, imaging equipment, and therapies. All of those were unavailable several decades ago.
His daughter — my mother — who would have celebrated her 103rd birthday in 2025, is not at the head of the table. It took a lot of FDA-approved medicines (innovator, generic, OTC, and supplements) and a number of FDA-approved devices and medical equipment for her to live well into her nineties, more than 50% longer than her father.
There are yet other parts of FDA’s activities for which we should be thankful. For example, in every household, there are cosmetics and personal care products that need to be safe for everyday use. Also, 71% of American households have pets, whose food and drugs are primarily FDA’s responsibility.
Less well-known is the fact that FDA sets standards for radiation emissions from electronic products. In addition to diagnostic imaging machines and therapeutic lasers, this also covers cell phones, microwave ovens, computer monitors, televisions, and the screening machines used by Homeland Security at airports.
It is primarily because of FDA that we can rely on all these products to perform satisfactorily for their intended use. That gives us much for which we should be thankful.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL
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Some recent columns that complement our message of thanks:
FDA Is The Department of Homeland Security for Food and Drugs
Behold the Incredible Breadth, Depth, and Complexity of FDA’s Responsibilities
A Message to MAHA: Every American Should Have Access to a Healthy and Affordable Diet
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