Those Who Forget History are Condemned to Relive It
Food and Drug Administration
#1
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:05 AM
Those Who Forget History are Condemned to Relive It
#2
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:05 AM
#3
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:07 AM
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#4
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:09 AM
#5
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:11 AM
#6
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:18 AM
Shortly before opening-time on the morning of February 26, 1987 twenty-five armed Federal Drug Administration (FDA) agents & US marshalls smashed thorough the glass doors of the Life Extension Foundation store, simultaneously raiding the nearby warehouse in Florida. With drawn guns, the agents lined LEF employees against the wall while seizing products, literature, documents, computers and personal effects, more than 80% of which were not within the authority of the search warrant.
Having lost most of their product inventory, LEF principals Saul Kent & Bill Faloon were facing 5 to 80 years in prison. All the attorneys they consulted recommended a guilty plea as the only possible means of reducing prison time. Instead, Kent and Faloon fought back both in the courts and through political action. A Political Coordinator's Office was established at LEF. LEF members (numbering less than 5,000) cooperated with letters, FAXes and phone calls to political leaders.
On January 9, 1991 the FDA raided the LEF Arizona Shipping Office with the complicity of the Arizona Board of Pharmacy. A permanent embargo was placed against all future shipments of 42 LEF products, including Life Extension Mix and Coenzyme-Q10. Fifteen days after the embargo, LEF lawyers handed a 300 page lawsuit to the Attorney General of Arizona, who promptly ordered the Pharmacy Board to lift the embargo. The Pharmacy Board Director agreed that his agents would take no future actions on behalf of the FDA without investigating matters themselves first.
The FDA then threatened that Kent & Faloon would become the target of criminal indictments that would "destroy their lives forever" and were told to plead guilty of crimes against the state. Kent and Faloon responded with a lawsuit against the FDA in a Florida District Court seeking an injunction against discriminating prosecution.
On November 7, 1991 Kent & Faloon were arrested and thrown into an 8 by 8 Fort Lauderdale jail cubicle containing several men charged with drug related crimes. Several hours later they were taken handcuffed before a magistrate who informed them that they were charged with 28 criminal counts, including conspiracy to sell unapproved drugs. After more hours in jail, they were released on $825,000 bail each.
Kent & Faloon retaliated by filing motions attacking the legal and constitutional foundation of the indictment. They charged that the FDA had illegally obtained the search warrant and had illegally seized many items not on the warrant. They also filed a motion charging that they were being selectively prosecuted by the FDA, because AIDS Buyer's Clubs similarly informed their members
of the FDA policy of allowing importation of drugs for personal use.
Despite continued threats of more FDA indictments that could put Kent & Faloon in jail for the rest of their lives, LEF became the first company to offer pharmaceutical-grade Melatonin in the United States in 1992.
In 1995 the FDA began exerting strong pressure to bring its lengthy legal fight against the Life Extension Foundation to trial. The FDA told Kent & Faloon that in exchange for a guilty plea they would not have to go to prison and could continue doing business on a more limited basis. The FDA wanted to censor the contents of LIFE EXTENSION magazine and probably intended to "regulate" LEF by limiting the products they could sell. Instead of pleading guilty, Kent & Faloon filed a new battery of legal motions, escalated their political attacks on the FDA and began extensive preparations for their trial.
In November 1995, the FDA dropped all charges except the charge of "obstruction of justice" against Saul Kent. In February, 1996 even this charge was dropped. It was the first time in the history of the FDA that the agency had given up on a criminal indictment against a political opponent.
#7
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:21 AM
We have a mixed score on this measure, I think. In the computer industry, we let Steve Jobs and Alan Kay have free rein. They proceeded to revolutionize their work and much of our society as well. In the medical profession our visionaries are Jonathan Wright, Micheal West and Julian Whittaker. They have the insight and the skill to revolutionize much of modern medicine. For these people, our government seems to have nothing but scorn and harassment. The costs for these actions will be large, and they will fall on all of us.
#8
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:32 AM
And that is precisely what they are trying to do. The FDA wants to control not only the marketing of products, but also what is said in speech or print about health matters. They have vowed to "crack down" even on scientific meetings and conferences which present findings "unacceptable" to FDA policies, and this is no idle threat.
The FDA is the closest thing to a domestic Gestapo-type police force in the USA, and their power is growing; new alliances are being cemented between the FDA, IRS, DEA, FTC, Customs and Postal Services, HHS and other government agencies, to "combat the growing menace of health fraud".
#9
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:36 AM
#10
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:37 AM
#11
Posted 24 November 2003 - 06:42 AM
#12
Posted 24 November 2003 - 07:06 AM
Beyond all this lies a larger question: Do we live in an enlightened society?
No we do not society is a great huddled mass of idiots, generally. And I am disgusted to be among it often.
However those of us the have our own beliefs and are intelligent enough to explore them will. Regardless of what we are approved or allowed to do.
The event of disapproval though or making illegal does slow progress down, in that open government and corporate support would cease.
But this would never halt the process especially when it regards health, medicine and life extension or improvement.
Do not worry those that do not support such endeavours will soon embrace the fate they long for.
#13
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:37 AM
No we do not society is a great huddled mass of idiots, generally. And I am disgusted to be among it often.
However those of us the have our own beliefs and are intelligent enough to explore them will. Regardless of what we are approved or allowed to do.
The event of disapproval though or making illegal does slow progress down, in that open government and corporate support would cease.
But this would never halt the process especially when it regards health, medicine and life extension or improvement.
Do not worry those that do not support such endeavours will soon embrace the fate they long for.
They will.
#14
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:37 AM
#15
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:41 AM
#16
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:44 AM
#17
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:45 AM
#18
Posted 25 November 2003 - 03:22 AM
#19
Posted 25 November 2003 - 03:24 AM
The end result of the FDA's war against the free flow of information on the Internet would be tens of millions of tax dollars wasted, with less so-called consumer "protection" than exists today.
#20
Posted 25 November 2003 - 03:25 AM
An Alternative Proposal The FDA has its own website (http://www.fda.gov/). For a fraction of the cost of becoming the health police of the Internet, the agency could post its own evaluation of alternative health websites that it thought were promoting fraudulent or dangerous products. Americans would then be free to make their own decisions about whether to believe what the FDA says about health websites. However, the FDA has no interest in trying to persuade Americans with evidence. It wants (and has always wanted) authoritarian powers and as much money as possible from Congress because it is a political organization rather than a scientific one. As a result, FDA suppression of information has been, historically, the leading cause of death in the United States, while adverse reactions to FDA approved drugs is currently the 4th-to-6th leading cause of death. Clearly, the FDA lacks the constitutional authority, the competence, the integrity or the scientific credibility to be given additional power and money to police the Internet.
#21
Posted 25 November 2003 - 01:14 PM
The FDA is exemplary of what happens when a good idea goes bad.
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#22
Posted 25 November 2003 - 02:12 PM
The FDA has become almost more about profit protection than quality control, more about market manipulation than encouraging and ensuring the development of new ideas.
The FDA is exemplary of what happens when a good idea goes bad.
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