The Food And Drug Administration

For my research on a Federal Agency i chose the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).The reason i decided to choose this is because food and drugs or medication are involved in our daily lives.The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the safety of the people.They are the main people that we rely on for the safety of good food and medication.The FDA is who allows the medication and food to go out on stores to be sold,they make sure this are safe for use and consumption by the people.

A GMO is a genetically modified organism that goes through the process of genetic engineering. This is when genes of one organism are extracted, altered, and then artificially placed into another organism to then grow. We typically see GMOs in the food we consume every day. These foods include fruits and vegetables, however the most common organisms that are genetically engineered include, corn, soy, and cotton. It is ultimately the unnatural cross breeding of plants, animals, bacteria, and virus genes (Non-GMO Project). But now why is there a debate for placing a label to notify consumers of GMOs in their foods? Do we know the potential harm that GMOs can cause? We have the right to know what we are putting into our bodies and what is found in our everyday foods.

Food and drug administration is a department of U.S health and human services. It’s responsibility is to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs entering the market as well as to make sure that these medicines are quickly accessible to people. The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act has been passed in 1938 to ensure that foods other than meat, poultry and fish are clinically hygienic and safe to eat. This act also requires that the food should be labelled according to its content. (FDA.org) Drugs and tobacco are also regulated by FDA and in 1996, FDA strictly regulated the use of tobacco products like nicotine, cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, by children and adolescents because of the increase in diseases prevalence and tobacco addiction. Annually 40000 deaths are attributable to its use and most of them are of premature. Therefore the goal of FDA is to stop the tobacco addiction by minors and prevent the deaths and diseases due to nicotine addiction. (FDA vs Brown, n.d) This essay will cover the food and drug administration’s role in under and over regulating drugs and medicines and how it effects our economy, health care system and patients health and safety.

With research showing that GMOs are bad for human consumption, there hasn’t been any policy restrictions made towards GMO foods. Here specifically it is up to the FDA and the government to pass the bill that would make these restrictions mandatory. Currently, this policy is being ignored and thought to not be necessary when factoring in human health. In other words, these large federal agencies are ignoring the facts and choosing to not make GMO restrictions

Foods with GMO ingredients need to be labeled because they are bad for your health. GMOs are not proven to be safe in the long run. The FDA has not run any tests to tell whether or not GMOs are safe. GMOs are linked to birth defects, and to Gluten disorders. According to USRTK, “ The FDA does not require independent pre-market safety testing for genetically engineered food. As a matter of practice, the agrichemical companies submit their own studies to the FDA as part of a

Approximately eighty percent of food eaten in the United States contains GMOs, but not many people know what they are actually consuming from their food sources (Prah). Genetically modified organism, also known as genetically modified organisms engineered in a lab by scientists that alter the genes of plants and animals. By fixating DNA from other organisms into America’s food sources, they create substances that are detrimental to the health of human beings. In addition to this, these genetically modified organisms are completely foreign to the plants and animals they undergo; their genes can become damaged from inserting the genes of the organisms. This unnatural process can interfere with a metabolic pathway in the plant or animal. In addition, studies have shown that on average forty-four percent of people had the “Round-up Ready” herbicide, glyphosate, which is used on genetically modified crops, found in their bodies (Stonebrook). Both, the genetically modified organisms and the chemicals used on them, cause several problems to occur in humans and other organisms which consume GMOs. These include tumors, damaged immune systems, allergies, and infertility; this is dangerous to the health of humans and to their regular body processes. Americans have the right to know what is going into their bodies and how these man-made GMOs are affecting them. By the government

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and received its name in 1930. Although the FDA’s roots can be traced back as far as 1862, its right as a regulatory agency came into effect under the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. This legislation was created to eliminate misrepresentation of food and drugs in an effort to protect the health of the public. Over the years, the FDA’s role has further evolved to overseeing many areas other than just food and drugs. However, its mission has remained the same:

United States spending on healthcare amounted to $2.9 trillion in 2013. This cost breaks down to $9,255 per person

The Food and Drug Administration is one of the oldest protection agencies the United States has. They were formed to protect citizens from drugs, food, cosmetics, medical devices and other hazardous things. The FDA employ more than 2,000 scientists, 900 chemists and 300 microbiologists.

In the handbook titled GM Foods written by David E. Newton there is a section that explains why GM foods are not labelled, which caused outrage back in the 90s. This section written by Dr. Phill Jones who earned his PhD in physiology and pharmacology. He was also a patent attorney. For ten years he specialized in biological, chemical and medical inventions. He states that "The FDA's authority comes from the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and according to the act, the FDA can only require information on a label that is accurate and material." He also mentions that the labeling of GM food would go against the FDA's regulation system. He mentions that the FDA uses science to evaluate the safety of foods and focuses on the characteristics more than how the plants were engineered. I would think that the safety of the food would also incorporate the plants' health, where and how it grows. He also claims that "advocates for GM food labeling claim that these labels would enable consumers to avoid health risks probably associated with GM foods." I believe people should be aware of what they are eating and have a choice to buy the products or not. We should know where the food is coming from and exactly what and how it is produced or modified. Without labeling people are forced to continue eating GM foods

Addictive and enticing, sweetness does not just come from sugar (BE#2). Artificial sweeteners add to the sugary taste of many foods and go by many names – saccharin, aspartame, and sucralose ¬– but they are all formulated by chemical engineers. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes artificial sweeteners as “probably safe,” and this statement has proven to be quite true (Nestle). For several years, aspartame and saccharin have been linked to weight gain and cancer in consumers and lab animals (Nestle). Because artificial sweeteners are used in many food products (most commonly diet sodas), people consume them quite often (BE#3). Also, humans tend to believe that if there are no calories and if there is no sugar, they should drink diet soda instead of regular soda. This trend leads to even greater intakes of sweet chemicals such as aspartame in people’s diets. Aspartame is a controversial and common ingredient in the American diet. “Aspartame, when reacted in the body, changes to methanol and then formic acid (a toxic substance)” (Nestle). According to the American Cancer Association, because aspartame contains phenylalanine, those who consume the substance regularly run the risk of having a build up of phenylalanine, which could constrict the flow of nutrients to the brain. Many people, though, do not show signs or symptoms of health complications consistent with aspartame (Amer. Cancer Assn.). Aspartame has the potential to be quite harmful, but because nobody has

U.S. Food and Drug Administration 2008, 'FDA Public Health Notification: Serious Complications Associated with Transvaginal Placement of Surgical Mesh in Repair of Pelvic Organ Prolapse and Stress Urinary Incontinence ' U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, updated 2015, viewed 13 January 2016, .

Since 1979, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has required that all prescription drugs have a shelf life (or expiration date) indicated directly on the container label. Similar requirements are in place in the European Union and around the world (1).

What is a GMO? Genetically Modified Organism is what GMO stands for. Consumers have been eating these plants modified for the sake of being able to have a built-in modification to prevent damage from the elements of nature. Farmers use to be able to just plant their crops and carry on with business. Now our government has some seeds that were modified to prevent pests and plant disease from damaging the food that is produced. Why is it that the United States government is one of few that do not make the FDA put labels on the fruits and vegetables produced by these modified seeds? It would seem to be an easy solution. Let the consumer decide. Unfortunately, this does not happen.

GMOs are considered to be as safe as their traditional counterparts according to the FDA and are generally regulated (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), the FDA does not refer to this category of foods as GMOs, but rather as GEs, genetically engineered. Perhaps their reluctance to use the term GMO is intentional and to disassociate the products with the infamous negative connotations. The following quote is from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, according to the section of their website titled “Views on GE Foods”, the FDA has a seemingly very neutral stance regarding the manufacturing and market of said products: