Originally published October 14 2008
The Pharmaceutical Get Out of Jail, Free Card
by Ethan Huff
(NaturalNews) Monday commenced the new Supreme Court term and one of the primary issues on the table concerns the "Final Rule" established by the Food and Drug Administration that provides lawsuit immunity for pharmaceutical companies whose drugs have inflicted harm on consumers. In a case currently before it, the Supreme Court is evaluating a lawsuit against drug-maker Wyeth regarding a drug called Phenergan. A musician from Vermont filed suit after getting gangrene in her arm following the injection of this nausea drug to treat a severe migraine attack. Consequently, she had to get her arm amputated and is seeking resolve for allegations of inadequate warnings and labeling from Wyeth about the risks involved with this particular type of injection.
In the past, drug companies were not necessarily immune from state lawsuits, even if the drug in question was FDA-approved. However, the "Final Rule," established on June 30, 2006, by the FDA, shelters drug companies from being sued for harm caused by their FDA-approved drugs, even if it could be shown that the company deliberately withheld critical data that would have proven its drug to be unsafe. Since the FDA is a federal agency that runs without oversight, including Congressional oversight, it has essentially declared that it gets the final, absolute say on a drug's safety regardless of a drug's harmful effects. Therefore, both the FDA and the pharmaceutical companies it represents are immune from suits seeking legal redress under this arbitrary "rule".
The tenth amendment of our United States Constitution clearly mandates that powers not expressly given to the federal government are reserved to the sovereign states, including the proper legal handling of cases brought before the courts for restitution and justice. This fundamental provision has been challenged by the FDA's doctrine of preemption, a concept that uses Congress to write laws that give the federal government exclusive jurisdiction in an area, effectively nullifying the power of the state in that matter. The FDA's recent declarations in favor of drug company immunity from the law vividly illustrate the resultant abuses of such unconstitutional power.
Aside from this specific case currently on its docket, the Supreme Court has a much more important and fundamental issue with which it must rule. It has the opportunity to set a precedent preventing continued legal evasion by drug companies that hide under the umbrella of the FDA seal of approval. Even though the FDA's stated goal is to protect public health, that mission is evidently no longer served by those in its ranks who would challenge and trump those effective measures by which "we the people" find protection under the law, namely the typical legal process with which all other matters are addressed. Thus it will be up to the Supreme Court to once again declare the tenth amendment valid in cases of health, allowing for justice to be served and setting the precedent that evasion of the law through manipulative regulatory agencies on behalf of special interests will no longer be tolerated.
About the author
Ethan Huff is a freelance writer and health enthusiast who loves exploring the vast world of natural foods and health, digging deep to get to the truth. He runs an online health publication of his own at http://wholesomeherald.blogspot.com.
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