The people deserve safe drugs again

A drug safety bill is entering the conference stage by both houses before it will be sent to our President for his signature. It concerns the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the regulator of prescription drugs. It corrects some of the agency's failures and makes it more accountable to the people.

We have heard the stories-- Vioxx, Paxil and now Oxycontin and Avandia and other dangerous drugs passing the FDA on their way to peoples' medicine cabinets. Used to be, we often complained that the FDA took too long to approve drugs, such as those for cancer; however, our FDA was very thorough in certifying the safety of drugs before they hit the market.

With today's passing in the House of a strong ethics and lobbying bill, let's continue this strong reform of government by sending President Bush a good drug safety bill as well!