The politics of the FDA

Over at Red Hair & Black Leather Jeff brings us this story of the politics of FDA warnings and recalls.

"The FDA just issued a warning on RU-486 -- the drug used to cause medical abortions -- after two women died from secondary infections after taking the pill to end their pregnancies. But the FDA waited until about 27,000 people had died from heart attacks and strokes while taking arthritis drug Vioxx before pulling that drug. Why the discrepancy? Stephen Pizzo finds that it has a lot to do with whose campaign benefits from pharmaceutical profits."

Merck, the maker of Vioxx, is a big contributor to the Republican party while the maker of RU-486 is a foreign company and can't contribute to political campaigns. Of course the Radical Christians power in Washington may have something to do with it as well.