Sunlight tools allow you to track the government response to Ebola.
Continue readingWill e-cigarettes get vaporized by the federal government?
Want to track the behind-the-scenes lobbying on e-cigarette regulations? Sunlight Foundation's Docket Wrench provides graphical and analytical tools to help.
Continue readingInfluence Analytics: Support for transfats, not so much for marijuana
Transfats, marijuana and medical devices are on the docket in the latest edition of Influence Analytics.
Continue readingUnder the radar lobbying: How food suppliers are pushing back on safety regs
Among the many groups pushing for exemption from new food safety rules meant to prevent outbreaks of deady bacteria are a group of dry bulb onion farmers from Idaho and Oregon.
"To date there has never been a documented food safety issue with dry bulbs. Onions have a protective covering and curing process that greatly reduce food safety risks," wrote a cluster of at least 47 onion farmers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last May. "Onions are never consumed without first being peeled. Because of these factors we feel that dry bulb onions should be exempt." The group ...
Continue readingAs summer growing season starts, produce safety rules delayed
As the nation's farmers enter a new growing season two years after 33 people died and 147 people were sickened in 28 states after eating listeria-infested canteloupe from a Colorado farm, the produce industry has effectively delayed implementation of a law intended to improve food safety.
The United Fresh Produce Association, which describes itself as "industry's leading trade association committed to driving the growth and success of produce companies and their partners" spearheaded the push for more time to comment on a pair of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules toughening safety standards for farms and processors.
The ...
Continue readingCaffeinated lobbying
A New York Times report that the Food and Drug Administration is investigating the popular energy concoction “5-Hour Energy” in the deaths of 13 people, comes after a strong lobbying effort appears to have stymied congressional efforts to regulate highly caffeinated beverages.
The energy drink industry falls into a regulatory crack between soft drink industries and, oddly enough, the food supplement industry. Some of the makers of these drinks claim that they are not food but a dietary supplement. That classification allows them to avoid listing ingredients on their products.
"These energy drinks, do not have to abide by nutrition ...
Continue readingDrug databases missing from data.gov
The Food and Drug Administration maintains 11 crucial drug databases available to the public on the agency website. However, if you tried to look them up on Data.gov, the administration's flagship site for organizing government data, you wouldn't have any luck finding them.
The databases listed include this one, drugs@FDA, the go-to place to search for background information on prescription drugs approved for sale in this country. For newer drugs, it contains links to scientific documents used by the agency in determining whether the drug is safe and effective. (The database contains many gaps though, as ...
Avandia case highlights need for FDA transparency
This week’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee’s meeting on the controversial diabetes drug Avandia, which the New York... View Article
Continue readingOGD: FDA to launch product recall database
When salmonella outbreaks were discovered last year in peanut butter and
pistachios, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took action by
posting information about affected products on its web page,
creating a widget where consumers could do look-ups, and providing a
downloadable database of the information--all of which proved tremendously popular. Starting this fall, the public will have access to a similar database containing details about all food, drug, and medical device recalls that occurred throughout the year, according to agency officials.
This database, which will be available to download in xml format, as well as via a ...
FDA’s transparency effort has new features, old content
59063
